You may take total responsibility for the emotional care of your family or others around you. Because of your experience in this role, you may choose a career as a helping professional, or a career which can reinforce the tendency to ignore your own needs. If you are a scapegoat, you are likely to get into various kinds of trouble, including drug and alcohol abuse, as a way of expressing your anger at your family. You function as a sort of pressure valve for the family. When tension builds in your family, as the scapegoat you will misbehave as a way of relieving pressure, which allows your family to avoid dealing with the drinking problem and dealing with your problems instead.
Scapegoats tend to be unaware of feelings other than anger.
You may have taken a different role at different times, or you may have characteristics of more than one role, depending on the situation. Some of these roles may look more effective than others, but each has its own drawbacks and its own pain. From the perspective of your role, it may be hard for you to understand the pain of a brother or sister who takes another role. Even though their pain may not be obvious, all of these roles have potentially serious consequences. Often this means understanding and forgiving your parents so that the healing process can begin.