Originally Posted by
lizatola 
My father wasn't really a full blown alcoholic when I was a kid but he was a belittler, he was verbally abusive, and I was always the brunt of his jokes. My mother never stepped in, she claims she never recognized it for what it was: abuse. That's probably true, both my sister and I live in la-la land half the time and we don't really see people's actions for what they are. It's something I obviously have to keep working on.
Thanks for your input here, it's nice to know I'm not alone.
Wow - this struck a chord with me. You described my father to an absolute T! Was doing my thinking on the drive into work this morning and came to the startling realization that my dad acted just like an alcoholic. Except he didn't drink.
Thanks for writing this. I have been NC with my dad for almost a decade and was kind of thinking about writing him again, but reading that just made me remember why he is no longer a part of my life.