Why Parentified Child Feels Guilty? (Clip: Skopje Seminar)

Survivor's guilt often stems from a pathological misperception of reality, particularly when individuals are engineered by parents to feel an unearned sense of obligation. While adults are never responsible for the functioning or happiness of other adults, children are doubly exempt from responsibility toward their parents. Parentification—where a child is forced into the role of emotional guardian—constitutes a profound betrayal of the parental duty to raise a child without such burdens. Because birth involves no agency or choice on the part of the child, the social contract dictates that parents owe their children everything, while children owe their parents nothing. Overcoming the guilt of "surviving" or thriving while loved ones suffer requires recognizing that everyone deserves to survive and that feelings of indebtedness are often the result of external gaslighting rather than objective truth.