This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Sophie Burkholder, BA. Sophie Burkholder graduated from Boston University in 2020 with dual degrees in Spanish and Modern Foreign Language Education. For three years, Sophie worked as a classroom teacher and strived to foster a love of learning and self-empowerment in her students. With that same purpose but a new audience, she now writes for the content team at wikiHow. She's passionate about giving readers the tools they need for any goal, big or small.
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Being scapegoated by your family can lead to feelings of worthlessness and isolation—but if you feel like you’re the family scapegoat, you’re not alone. Many people grow up in dysfunctional families where blame and manipulation are used by the people they’re meant to trust most. But what does it mean to be a family scapegoat? We’ll tell you that and more in this article as we cover the causes and impacts of scapegoating (hint: it’s never, ever, your fault) and how to heal from this unhealthy family dynamic.
The family scapegoat is the person who gets blamed for the rest of the family’s mistakes. Scapegoating usually begins when a dysfunctional or abusive parent blames a child for everything bad that happens—as a result, this child grows up believing that they’re inherently “bad” or “wrong.”
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