15 Types of Unhealthy Father-Daughter Relationships
A father-daughter relationship is an important bond that can be filled with the utmost happiness or sadness. Sadly, some cannot last because of unhealthy actions taken by one or both parties within this relationship.
Whether it’s the feeling of being suffocated, unloved, misunderstood, or undiagnosed mental health issues, these 15 types of unhealthy father-daughter relationships can cause a ton of pain and suffering.
Women have historically been taught to know when their fathers are not good for them in order to take precautions to save themselves from possible abuse and neglect. There are many red flags they should watch out for so they can protect themselves and avoid these relationships entirely.
1. Isolating
The main goal of this relationship is to keep you as a child. Isolation can happen through threats, force, or other mental tactics. These types of relationships are extremely difficult to get out of because the abuser doesn’t want you to leave.
Threats are used in order to make sure they know how much damage they can do if you decide not to comply with their wishes and demands.
They also don’t want you talking about what’s going on inside their household because it gives them power and control over others within that household should someone find out about the abuse taking place.
Isolation is a very common tactic within this type of relationship, although it’s one of the easier relationships to get out of.
2. Manipulation
A manipulative father-daughter relationship can be brutal and painful. These types of relationships aren’t always intentional, but the manipulator doesn’t know any different.
They believe that everyone around them just thinks like them and will do whatever it takes to get what they want.
Manipulation is often used because that person doesn’t really know how else to control so many people at once without using brute force or threats.
Of course, a situation where someone is purposefully manipulating you can be horrible and have dangerous consequences.
Manipulation can manifest itself in many ways, but the main goal of this type of relationship is to make you compliant and subservient.
3. Undiagnosed Mental Health Issues
The father is often the person who recognizes that there may be a mental health issue within the family. They know when they are going through something difficult, depressed, or traumatized because they are very aware of their surroundings and consciously can see the problems that may arise because of the behavior.
These types of relationships can be extremely rare because it’s hard for someone with a disorder to recognize that there is an issue within themselves and their family. Because of this, it’s less likely that they will reach out and get help. Instead, they are likely to push away the pain and continue on with their dangerous lifestyle.
Unfortunately, it’s common for a child to blame themselves for the issues that their parent is dealing with.
4. Lack Of Love And Care For Your Growth
A lack of love and care for your growth is a painful relationship that many women have experienced in at least one point in their lives.
When you are constantly told you aren’t good enough or not good enough in certain aspects of your life, it can be extremely difficult to break away from those relationships even when you are an adult.
These types of father-daughter relationships are created from a lack of love and care, which can lead to this type of behavior.
These relationships are often toxic because the parent isn’t honest with their daughter about their problems because they want to keep them around and they don’t want to make the relationship an unstable one.
5. Pushing You Away
This type of relationship is one that can be very dangerous but not necessarily intentional. Many times when someone pushes a child away, it’s done without knowing how harmful this action would cause others within that family unit.
There are parents who realize what’s taking place within their home and don’t care about the pain it may cause others outside of their young children.
This can really cause a lot of resentment within the child who sees them as being violent and not a caring adult. Others become very paranoid and fearful that when they are alone, you will take them in again.
These types of parents don’t want to kill their relationship with their children because they think it’s good for them.
6. Keep You In The Dark
A father-daughter relationship that keeps them in the dark and doesn’t allow them to be truthful about what is going on within the household. This type of abuse can be difficult for a child who wants to trust their parent and want to get help but doesn’t know how to do so.
Many times, this type of abuse is done in order to keep others from getting hurt or being destroyed by the other parent’s behavior. This also means that no one can step into the situation and help because they don’t know anything about it when it begins.
7. Ignoring Your Pain
When there is a lack of care and understanding, it’s easier to ignore the fact that your relationship can be difficult.
Of course, seeing a change in your parent makes you feel like there is something wrong with the person who raised you.
When this type of relationship begins to take place within a family unit, it’s much easier for them to push away the fact that they have caused pain through their actions.
They often don’t want to admit that they have an issue with their child because they are either ignorant or completely numb to what they are doing.
8. Complicating Your Feelings
This type of relationship is difficult because your feelings can be hard to figure out when you are a child or young adult. You’re in between childhood and adulthood, which makes it hard for you to understand what your feelings are because they are constantly changing.
As a result, the parent who is complicating your feelings is doing so with the intention of manipulating, controlling, and causing harm within their household.
They don’t know how else to show their anger towards the way that things have turned out for them, which causes them to hurt those around them.
9. Leaving You To Your Own Devices
This type of relationship is one where the father doesn’t want to be a part of the relationship and decides that he’s just going to let it go on without him.
This means that he will act as if he never existed and doesn’t want anything to do with you.
It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are when the child is growing up, in this type of situation there are no boundaries in place between the two people involved.
Often, these types of relationships begin because of stress and parents who feel like they can’t take care of their child so they put them at risk by leaving them unattended.
10. Manipulating Your Feelings
Manipulation is a horrible way to treat anyone, especially if you are their parent. This type of relationship often comes from a place of selfishness instead of love and care.
A parent who is manipulative has no idea what they can get out of the situation in order to gain something for themselves.
Manipulating your feelings and paying attention to you instead of the family that they put before everything else can cause a lot of resentment within the relationship.
It’s difficult for someone that is being manipulated to be able to separate themselves from the situation in order to understand what is happening within their household.
11. Acting Out Against You
One of the most difficult father-daughter relationships to deal with is when a parent decides to act out against you because they are angry or upset. This relationship is one that creates an unstable environment within the entire family.
When this type of behavior takes place, it can be challenging for a child to deal with because they feel like they have done something wrong and they don’t understand why their parent is mad.
Unfortunately, this kind of behavior can also create issues in other areas of a child’s life where they begin to behave in ways that are bad for their mental health. Many times this type of relationship takes place within households where there aren’t any boundaries in place and no one else to turn to for help.
12. Gaining Your Trust
When it comes to a father-daughter relationship, gaining your trust is something that can be difficult to do. However, for a parent who is manipulative and doesn’t have your best interest at heart, they will use this type of situation in order to gain an advantage against you.
When a parent gains someone’s trust by telling them exactly what they want them to hear, it can be very dangerous for the relationship that is taking place between the two people involved.
This type of relationship doesn’t allow you to be yourself and feel like you are able to create a life for yourself as an independent person who doesn’t need their parent’s approval in order to feel good about themselves.
13. Trying To Control You
Controlling a child or a young adult is never a good idea because it makes you feel like you are not able to be yourself.
This type of relationship often happens when the parent who is spending time with you wants to control your life and make decisions for you instead of listening to what you want.
They can make it seem like they are looking out for your best interest, but they’re actually just trying to control what you do and how you do it.
When this situation takes place, it can be difficult for a person to trust themselves enough in order to stand up for what they believe in.
14. Being Inaccessible
No parent wants to be inaccessible to their child and there are certain situations where a parent may not have the time because of their job or other factors.
However, when this type of relationship takes place, it’s because a parent is being intentionally unavailable for the sake of themselves.
They don’t want to spend time with you because they feel like you’re young and need to learn how to do things on your own.
This can cause some resentment within the household because you may start to feel like you’re being pushed away in order for your parent to go after something that they are trying to create for themselves.
15. Not Being There For You In The Way You Need Them To Be
This type of relationship has to do with the negative side of a father-daughter relationship because a parent doesn’t seem to care about you in any way.
They are not there for you when you need them and their attention is always focused on themselves instead of what is best for you as a person.
You can easily see this happening when your parent starts to focus on their own life instead of helping you with yours.
This type of situation is one that will leave scars within a child because they feel like they have no one in the world that wants to talk to them or listen to what they have to say.
In Conclusion
A father-daughter relationship can be a very difficult one to deal with and many of the things that come up in these types of situations are things that shouldn’t even exist in the first place.
It’s important to listen to yourself and your feelings when you’re dealing with a parent who isn’t treating you the way that you want them to.
If you’re facing issues within your relationship, it may be time for you to make some changes so that you can strengthen what your relationship needs in order to make it last.
Always remember to not blame others for your issues because we are all responsible for our own actions and what takes place within our own lives.