Understanding the Anthony family

How does George live in that house? He has said so many,many different things to LE, to the media, to the public. How does he work with JB after it became public that he told LE that he didn't the guy. I know, I know JB is not his lawyer, but still. Then there's the body in the trunk is not my grandaughter, Caylee's been moved 9 times, you can't believe the real story (or something like that) when it all comes out. Yeah George-you're right, I can't!
This whole family has foot-n-mouth disease. If it weren't so tragic-it would almost look like some dark slap stick comedy. Remember Arsenic and Old Lace?:bang:
 
I found this article really helpful in trying to understand the A's......


Trying to Get By
People who live in families that experience trauma and addictions endure a lifestyle of day-to-day survival. Pain, fighting, stressed relationships, abuse, isolation, and hopelessness are the emotional reality of family life. The family dysfunction and emotional stress become the “normal” way of living. To cope with the situation, individuals learn complex methods of survival. These methods of survival, in turn, lead to further personal and family dysfunction. In dysfunctional families common reactions to stress include:
Denial of trauma;
Avoidance of working through trauma issues;
Running from pain and grief emotions;

Not allowing resolution or healing of an issue or problem.
The first three reactions all involve a form of emotional escapism. Individuals and families that are more dysfunctional than healthy resist dealing with trauma. This denial process is very strong and is often accompanied by a strict belief system that does not acknowledge difficult issues. In other words, dysfunctional families believe that if a problem or trauma is not acknowledged, it will disappear.

You can see the article in in entirety here.....
http://www.pureintimacy.org/gr/intimacy/understanding/a0000129.cfm

I wonder if there hadnt been so much stress and dysfunction caused by KC over the last couple of years, if the A's would be handling the situation differently? They were already unable to cope with the lies, theft, promiscuity etc. They were already a family in crisis, and at breaking point....
When they first discovered that caylee was missing they were faced with the reality that they did not know their daughter at all. meeting up with KC's friends , and learning about the multitude of lies, would be enough to push them over the edge. They needed to use denial as a survival mechanism, but denial is only healthy for so long, before it becomes destructive.
 
just because someones child turns out to be a killer doesnt mean they are bad parents .. imho that is just an excuse to excuse someones behaviour and that is why more kids think they can get away with the crap they do .. no disrespect intended but the blaming of the parents on a 22 year old just doesnt sit well with me .casey was probably born with issues and hid them ..alot of psychotic people can hide stuff for many many years till they finally explode ..just because cindy acts like she does now doesnt mean she acted that way when casey was a child .. cindy didnt have a dead grandbaby that her child killed at that time

Thank you!!:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:
It's refreshing
 
I'm not just picking on George. KC,CA,LA,JB,MN,TB they all need to huddle and get their stories straight. How can wonder why we don,t believe them?
How can they wonder why we don't fall in line with their theories-there's too many of them and they're all BS.
There's a line in the movie JFK, where I believe Donald Sutherland's character says to Kevin Costner-The bigger the lie, the easier it is to sell ( or something like that). Well, not in this case!:mad:
 
I don't think I really need to add any more to this. I feel all the comments made here are well thought-out and spot-on. Bravo everybody! I get the sense that we on WS were either fortunate to grow up in relative stability or perhaps, had serious family issues/their own mental health issues but took it upon themselves to seek professional help and get their lives back on track. Us, "well-adjusted" people look at this mess and just cannot comprehend the pathology going on in that family-therefore we shake our collective head and say, "WTF?" I am a nurse so I see all types of family dynamics at work and sometimes it is quite cringeworthy-makes me thankful for my loving family. I hope the A's get some help to save whatever scraps of a relationship they all have with each other-but I'm not gonna bet on it; being on "Dr.Phil" or "Oprah" will be as close to help as they'll probably get.
 
Look at Scott Peterson's parent's and Neil Entwhistle's parents (who acutally said the mother killed her baby and then killed herself). The way casey's parents are acting is not unheard of. But, I think it makes a difference in how the accused reacts to an investigation and perhaps why they turned out the way they did. I mean, I know that bad people can come out of good homes but I think dysfunction and denial and pretense in a family are better breeding grounds for criminals than functional families. Also, when a family is functional, the case may be cleared up more quickly. SP's family defend him to this day and he fought to the end and has never admitted his guilt. Mark Hacking's family did not defend him. They supported him but urged him to tell the truth. He pled guilty. Case closed. What a difference.
 
I found this article really helpful in trying to understand the A's......


Trying to Get By
People who live in families that experience trauma and addictions endure a lifestyle of day-to-day survival. Pain, fighting, stressed relationships, abuse, isolation, and hopelessness are the emotional reality of family life. The family dysfunction and emotional stress become the “normal” way of living. To cope with the situation, individuals learn complex methods of survival. These methods of survival, in turn, lead to further personal and family dysfunction. In dysfunctional families common reactions to stress include:
Denial of trauma;
Avoidance of working through trauma issues;
Running from pain and grief emotions;

Not allowing resolution or healing of an issue or problem.
The first three reactions all involve a form of emotional escapism. Individuals and families that are more dysfunctional than healthy resist dealing with trauma. This denial process is very strong and is often accompanied by a strict belief system that does not acknowledge difficult issues. In other words, dysfunctional families believe that if a problem or trauma is not acknowledged, it will disappear.

You can see the article in in entirety here.....
http://www.pureintimacy.org/gr/intimacy/understanding/a0000129.cfm

I wonder if there hadnt been so much stress and dysfunction caused by KC over the last couple of years, if the A's would be handling the situation differently? They were already unable to cope with the lies, theft, promiscuity etc. They were already a family in crisis, and at breaking point....
When they first discovered that caylee was missing they were faced with the reality that they did not know their daughter at all. meeting up with KC's friends , and learning about the multitude of lies, would be enough to push them over the edge. They needed to use denial as a survival mechanism, but denial is only healthy for so long, before it becomes destructive.


That's a very good article.

This line could have been written about Cindy:
"For others, the feelings of being scared or hurt are replaced by anger and rage."
 
I can't be angry anymore, it's eating me up. That's why I want to understand them. Thank you all for your insight.
 
I'd never believe anything a person who premeditates a murder says or their reasons for doing one thing. I think psychopaths are so sneaky that they might own up to what they did if they believe their family will still send them money and visit, and if they know they won't or it won't benefit them in any way they will never admit a thing. It's not to Casey's advantage to admit anything. She has a chance of getting off or win an appeal, and still have her family behind her by never admitting to murder. It's all about her selfish needs.
 
I am a nurse so I see all types of family dynamics at work and sometimes it is quite cringeworthy-makes me thankful for my loving family.


snipped.........

quite cringeworthy.........i love it!

(made me think of 'spongeworthy' on seinfeld)
 
I would really like to understand the Anthony family. If I understood them, maybe I wouldn't have these ambivalent feelings.

Why do they think Caylee is alive? As GA said, if he lost Caylee, then he had lost KC also. Grief, denial, and love can make family turn the other cheek, and seek truth where there is none. For some, it is easier to accept the lie than the truth, even when it is staring you in the face.
Why won't Casey tell the truth? There is no benefit for her to tell the truth, other than to cop a plea bargain. IMO, she is still waiting for the world to believe that Caylee was kidnapped, and that she will see her face on a milk carton, and then get the sympathy of the whole world, the way she originally thought it would play out .
George smelled decomp in the car, why don't they think it was Caylee? GA said it all..."please don't let it be". He knows, CA knows, they just have not accepted the fact that they raised a monster.
If Casey was a bad daughter, why wouldn't she be a bad mother? Everything that has come out, the lies, the stealing, the fake life, is proof of who she really was UNDERNEATH it all. A person can appear normal (Ted Bundy) and fool the world, but when the truth comes out, everyone can see their true colors. Bad daughter=bad person=bad mother=evil person

If I knew more info, maybe it would change my feelings --- or maybe not. I don't know anymore. Why the secrets?DENIAL!!! Secrets and lies are easier then facing/accepting the truth, or facing the daughter that killed your granddaughter.

Blue is MOO. While my heart breaks for the A's, I wish they would admit and accept the truth that is soon going to slap them in the face. Let us all grieve together. I would support them so much more without all the theatrics and BS.
 
just because someones child turns out to be a killer doesnt mean they are bad parents .. imho that is just an excuse to excuse someones behaviour and that is why more kids think they can get away with the crap they do .. no disrespect intended but the blaming of the parents on a 22 year old just doesnt sit well with me .casey was probably born with issues and hid them ..alot of psychotic people can hide stuff for many many years till they finally explode ..just because cindy acts like she does now doesnt mean she acted that way when casey was a child .. cindy didnt have a dead grandbaby that her child killed at that time

Wow, a newborn able to hide "issues" .. and psychotic people that "can hide stuff for many many years". Very interesting.
 
To me trying to understand the A's is like trying to understand why people batter and abuse other people.
What I mean by that is that we spend to much time trying to understand the "why" and too little time trying to figure out why we even got involved with them in the first place. We realized from day one that they were "different" and yet we keep hoping to see them act "normal". They have shown us what they are like time and time again!

They are not nice people and they have raised not nice people and frankly I don't care what they do or why they do it anymore.

I would rather spend time praying that some how that child gets the justice she deserves.
Not trying to be snarky..but you asked our opinions and I'm telling mine..LOL

Not trying to be snarky but I gotta say with that mindset- I'm thinking it's probably a good thing you no longer treat people afflicted with mental illness.
 
just because someones child turns out to be a killer doesnt mean they are bad parents .. imho that is just an excuse to excuse someones behaviour and that is why more kids think they can get away with the crap they do .. no disrespect intended but the blaming of the parents on a 22 year old just doesnt sit well with me .casey was probably born with issues and hid them ..alot of psychotic people can hide stuff for many many years till they finally explode ..just because cindy acts like she does now doesnt mean she acted that way when casey was a child .. cindy didnt have a dead grandbaby that her child killed at that time

(bolding is mine)

Or maybe Casey is who she is now (at least in part) because when she was a child CA acted like she does now?
 
That's a very good article.

This line could have been written about Cindy:
"For others, the feelings of being scared or hurt are replaced by anger and rage."

And the sad thing is that it becomes how one deals, they do not see anything wrong with it. Often not even realizing that they are hurt, the only emotion they can handle is anger so that is all they allow themselves to feel.
 
I don't want to understand this family -- they totally put the FUN in dysFUNctional. I know it is an old joke . . .

Also, my family is pretty dysFUNctional as well (cannot wait until Thanksgiving!) but they would NEVER cover up a charade as Casey is playing.
 
(bolding is mine)

Or maybe Casey is who she is now (at least in part) because when she was a child CA acted like she does now?
oh which came first the chicken or the egg LOL cindy didnt make casey a liar .. casey just is one . she couldve learned it yes but everyone has a choice on what they do and dont do . there are very abused kids that turn out to be wonderful adults we will never know why casey is the way she is .. we only know her in the now .. as we only know cindy in the now .. we dont know them and we didnt know them hard to analyze people you dont know .. it would be nice to have someone on here that has known them for years .
 
just because someones child turns out to be a killer doesnt mean they are bad parents .. imho that is just an excuse to excuse someones behaviour and that is why more kids think they can get away with the crap they do .. no disrespect intended but the blaming of the parents on a 22 year old just doesnt sit well with me .casey was probably born with issues and hid them ..alot of psychotic people can hide stuff for many many years till they finally explode ..just because cindy acts like she does now doesnt mean she acted that way when casey was a child .. cindy didnt have a dead grandbaby that her child killed at that time


Very well said and I agree. No parent wants to admit that the child they raised has serious issues or could be a murderer. Casey is 22, she is not a child anymore, and it is not fair to blame her parents for this! Whatever she did to Caylee, she made her own choices.
As for how they react or what they've done... I might not agree with it or approve of their actions at all... but this has to be VERY difficult for them.
When I see posters here and other forums say that the A's never loved Caylee, it makes me angry. How can anyone judge what is in another person's heart? To me, it is BECAUSE of their intense love for her that they cannot give up hope, and cannot turn their backs on Casey. After all, she was once their baby, too.
I will say that I believe they know in their minds that Caylee is lost to them, but their hearts are refusing to let go. My husband lost a son several years ago... I watched him beat himself up because he wasn't with him much the last 3 years of his life. He could NOT let go and really grieve for the longest time. It tore me up to watch him go through this. Finally he broke down one night at church and after that he was able to deal with it. I can only imagine what it would be like to lose a child or a grandchild. Instead of beating the Anthonys up, I prefer to pray for them, that one day they will accept it and be able to grieve properly for Caylee.
 

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