Understanding the Family Role in Shaping a Broken Identity

The family plays a highlighted role in the formation of positive and negative emotions in individuals. Previous studies had described the role of the family in shaping a broken identity, so having this in mind, we were trying to study the family role in the formation of feelings of failure. Participants were selected based on three criteria: clients' claim, therapist's diagnosis, and failure emotion test. Interviews went on to get to theoretical saturation (65 people). The subjects of the study were purposefully selected (using quota sampling) from psychology clinics in 5 regions of Tehran. Subjects were selected from 25 to 45-year-old individuals. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data, and thematic analysis was used to interpret and analyze the data. Findings indicate that families have a reinforcing and causal role in the experiences of failure, the family tries to control the individual by imposing mental and objective restrictions, using mechanisms such as intimidation, humiliation, analogy, giving privileges, rejection, labeling, guilt, or fear induction. On the other hand, some families seize opportunities for the development of children (especially women) by instilling traditional beliefs, leading to the formation of a broken identity in the individual. Extreme rejection and control by family members breed feelings of hopelessness, alienation, and abandonment, and failure in general. Some of the strategies used by these individuals are family avoidance, immigration, scheming, self-blaming, rumination, regret, and anger.