Psychotherapist, Author, Estrangement Specialist
If you’ve been cut off by your adult child or children, you might experience some of the following signs and symptoms of anxiety: You worry excessively. Your breathing is often shallow and fast, rather than slow and deep. You can’t seem to relax, physically or mentally. You have trouble concentrating on other things. You do things you know you shouldn’t, because you can’t stop yourself. Anxiety in the face of unwanted estrangement is understandable. The …
I received the following feedback about an excerpt from my book, Reconnecting With Your Estranged Adult Child, and I wanted to respond. Unfortunately, the feedback was anonymous. Surely this person is not alone. So I thought I’d respond with a blog post… S/he wrote: I read through your entire page on Estrangement and I’ve got to say that it all felt a bit like you’re condoning the behaviour of abusive parents; telling them they need …
In last week’s post I talked about how differentiation can contribute to estrangement between parents and their young adult children. This continuation of that post talks about the married adult child, and offers some tips to help you trust the process. Remember, differentiation is a normal and healthy part of human development. It’s not due to a lack of gratitude or character. Everyone goes through differentiation, and if you pay very close attention to your …
Do you have an adult child under 30 who’s pulling away from you? It could be part of a normal process of development called differentiation. We all know that children eventually (or rapidly!) grow into adults, but not without going through some developmental stages. It’s easy to see these stages in kids’ behavior when they’re young. For example, something they used to love is now boring, or vice versa. But technically, all of us remain …