Josh Duggar is the gift that keeps on giving… at least to those with prurient curiosity and schadenfreude, and isn’t that most of us? We can’t help but take pleasure when someone, who’s pretended to be purer than us, indeed, flaunted it on TV, is exposed as dirtier than a pig in mud: pedophilia, pornography, posted on Ashley Madison. But, he has been no ‘gift’ to those closest to him, who are his victims.
screenshot from AloneYetNotAlone YouTube Video
Ah, but, that’s the question. Surely his sisters and the other girls he molested are victims. His wife and children, who he cheated on, are victims. But, what about his parents? Yes, they are forever humiliated, and narcissistically wounded by the cancellation of their TV show, 19 Kids and Counting, but they still don’t get it: that they are the ones responsible for Josh becoming a sex addict. How? By teaching him that sex is forbidden and dirty, while they, themselves, have sex like bunnies and flaunt their procreation. Imagine how sexually stimulating and confusing it was to grow up in such a household that both represses and parades sexuality. And while they were holed up in the bedroom, could his parents have missed recognizing that Josh was being sexually abused? Absolutely.
There is no excuse for what Josh has done, but his parents are equally to blame, not only for the unbridled sexual tension in their home, but for not getting him the professional psychiatric treatment he needed from the moment they knew there was a problem, when he was a young teen, if not sooner. Instead, his untreated and unpunished sexual addiction was allowed to grow – from molesting little girls to becoming addicted to pornography and signing up for extra-marital affairs on Ashley Madison. And, we mustn’t forget, Josh still wouldn’t have ‘fessed up to any of this, were his secrets not exposed in the media by serendipitous turns of events outside of his control.
Carole Lieberman, M.D., America's Psychiatrist, is a 3-time Emmy honoree, TV personality and radio talk show host. She's an award-winning author of three books, including her latest, Bad Girls: Why Men Love Them & How Good Girls Can Learn Their Secrets.
For more information on Dr. Lieberman check out her website DrCarole.com.
Follow her on Twitter: @DrCaroleMD