Why are so many adult children cutting off their parents? The answer may be more complicated than either side wants it to be. In response to a recent Wall Street Journal article, LCSW Sarah Benitez-Zandi explores social media, therapy culture, boundaries, trauma language, changing family expectations, and whether our growing emphasis on individual well-being has come at the expense of healthy interdependence.

Family reconciliation isn't about getting the old relationship back. It's about figuring out whether parents and adult children can build something different. A family therapist explores accountability, forgiveness, boundaries, trust, apologies, changing old patterns, and what repair after estrangement actually requires.

What if some of what we are calling a family estrangement crisis is actually a family transition crisis? When children become adults, families have to renegotiate closeness, independence, boundaries, holidays, money, grandchildren, and what they expect from one another. Sometimes everybody is hurting and nobody is the villain.

Is family estrangement really increasing? Research shows that estrangement between parents and adult children is not rare, but proving that it is becoming more common is surprisingly complicated. Explore how technology, social media, changing expectations for family connection, and the rise of “no contact” language may be changing how we understand distance between parents and adult children.

Family estrangement is painful, complicated, and rarely caused by one person or one decision. While I do not believe therapists are causing estrangement, I do think our profession has a responsibility to examine the ways we may sometimes contribute to it. This article looks beyond the headlines to explore therapy’s role, the difference between validation and agreement, what “no contact” is really meant to accomplish, and why repair requires more than simply deciding who was right.

What do you call grief when no one has died, but the relationship no longer exists?
This post explores ambiguous grief in family estrangement, whether no-contact is chosen or imposed. We unpack the guilt, shame, relief, and identity loss that surface when stepping out of dysfunction, and why grief without closure deserves language and compassion.