I was hoping someone could help me, a couple of years ago my ex partner told me a word I'd never heard of. It was to describe the effects of growing up without parents. I guess I had your typical upbringing for the 1970's.. an oft violent, drunk, gambler who liked to terrorise us all.. sexual abuse commited by a relative/baby sitter.. my mother was obviously affected by this too but I had to leave her to her own mental health issues.. it's been almost 20 years since I spoke with her.. 30 years since I saw my father... much like the other sibbling I occasionally have contact with; I don't feel any impetus to contact them as I know this would not help me, however selfish that sounds.. I would say this has had predictable outcomes on my ability to form healthy relationships.. to be fair, the older I get the more reclusive I'm becoming, which is definitely one way of avoiding negative interactions.. the reason I asked the question, is because I would like to better understand/ read about how other people in the same situation coped with life, especially males getting past their thirties.. searched for an hour this morning but every post seemed to be regarding the effects of absent father's.. not both.. thanks for reading.