Using the Existential Criterion for Assessing the Personality of Overprotective and Overly Demanding Parents in the Families of Patients Who Have Sought Psychological Counseling for Parent Child Problems
The article presents the results of applying the existential criterion of normal and abnormal personalities for assessing the personality of overprotective and overly demanding parents in 176 families of patients who have sought psychological counseling. It is shown that the position of overprotective parents is one sided in relation to the existential dichotomy of providing care and allowing independence, while the position of overly demanding parents is one sided in relation to three classic existential dichotomies: nature and culture, self actualization and conventional values, and determinism and self determination. We used L.N. Sobchik's diagnostic test to identify the features of interpersonal relationships that existed between grandparents and the parents when they were children. We also used Max Luscher's test to diagnose parents' personality. The results of these tests suggest that overprotective and overly demanding parents have largely developed such unilateral positions under the "excessive interference" of the upbringing choices of their parents. They acquired these practices irrationally, and subsequently they reproduced these overprotective and overly demanding approaches when the time came to raise their own children. Based on the existential criterion, the above attributes of the analyzed overprotective and overly demanding parenting patterns are indicative of abnormal personality traits.