
The Absent Father
Conséquences psychologiques et reconstruction
By Gildas Garrec · 210 pages · 2025
Available formats
About this book
6 conséquences psychologiques de l'absence paternelle (physique ou émotionnelle) chez la fille comme chez le garçon. Schémas d'attachement, peur d'abandon, protocoles TCC.
Did you grow up without a father, or with one who was physically present but emotionally absent — and are you still trying to understand what that absence shaped in you? This clinical guide explores the many faces of paternal absence — physical, emotional, or inherited from toxic parents — and their specific consequences depending on whether you're a son or a daughter, across eight chapters grounded in Jeffrey Young's schema therapy, particularly the abandonment, emotional deprivation, and mistrust schemas. One chapter addresses the specific challenges of blended families, and two chapters guide you through grieving the ideal father all the way to rebuilding yourself as your own anchor. Grounded in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and enriched with anonymized clinical cases, this book doesn't set out to blame fathers or trap readers in a victim stance: it names a wound that's still too rarely spoken about, helps you understand how it keeps shaping your relationship, your work, and your self-esteem, and shows you how to transform it.
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Take the absent father test →Table of contents
- 1Invisible Wounds and the Path to Healing
- 2Physical absence and emotional absence: two distinct wounds
- 3The many faces of the absent father
- 4What the research tells us
- 5When absence is transmitted from generation to generation
- 6The legitimacy of all forms of suffering
- 7Key Points of Chapter 1
- 8Constructing masculinity without a paternal model
- 9The paths of compensation
- 10Risk-taking behavior and the search for limits
- 11Emotional intimacy: the great challenge
- 12Key Points of Chapter 2
- 13The father: first mirror of femininity
- 14The relational patterns of daughters of absent fathers
- 15Self-esteem and body image
- 16Key Points of Chapter 3
- 17The paradox of the empty presence
- 18The faces of the emotionally absent father
- 19The consequences of paternal emotional neglect
- 20The legacy of previous generations
- 21Key Points of Chapter 4
- 22When presence causes more harm than absence
- 23The faces of the toxic father
- 24The toxic legacy: what we carry without knowing it
- 25Key Points of Chapter 5
- 26The complexity of loyalties
- 27The stepfather: a role to be invented
- 28Children facing family recomposition
- 29The place of the absent biological father in the blended family
- 30Key Points of Chapter 6
- 31Additional Material for Chapter 1: The Many Faces of Paternal Absence
- 32Additional Material for Chapter 2: The Impact on Sons
- 33The father: first mirror of femininity
- 34The relational patterns of daughters of absent fathers
- 35Self-esteem and body image
- 36Key Points of Chapter 3
- 37The paradox of the empty presence
- 38The faces of the emotionally absent father
- 39The consequences of paternal emotional neglect
- 40The legacy of previous generations
- 41Key Points of Chapter 4
- 42When presence causes more harm than absence
- 43The faces of the toxic father
- 44The toxic legacy: what we carry without knowing it
- 45Key Points of Chapter 5
- 46The complexity of loyalties
- 47The stepfather: a role to be invented
- 48Children facing family recomposition
- 49The place of the absent biological father in the blended family
- 50Key Points of Chapter 6
- 51The ideal father: a necessary construction
- 52The stages of grief
- 53Young's schemas in the absent father dynamic
- 54An illuminating study: long-term consequences
- 55Key Points of Chapter 7
- 56Reparenting: becoming one's own inner parent
- 57Breaking the intergenerational cycle
- 58For women: choosing differently
- 59Community and support
- 60Key Points of Chapter 8
- 61Crisis resources
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