Rules of Estrangement

Author: Joshua Coleman, PhD
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0593136888
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
A guide for parents whose adult children have cut off contact that reveals the hidden logic of estrangement, explores its cultural causes, and offers practical advice for parents trying to reestablish contact with their adult children. “Finally, here’s a hopeful, comprehensive, and compassionate guide to navigating one of the most painful experiences for parents and their adult children alike.”—Lori Gottlieb, psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone Labeled a silent epidemic by a growing number of therapists and researchers, estrangement is one of the most disorienting and painful experiences of a parent's life. Popular opinion typically tells a one-sided story of parents who got what they deserved or overly entitled adult children who wrongly blame their parents. However, the reasons for estrangement are far more complex and varied. As a result of rising rates of individualism, an increasing cultural emphasis on happiness, growing economic insecurity, and a historically recent perception that parents are obstacles to personal growth, many parents find themselves forever shut out of the lives of their adult children and grandchildren. As a trusted psychologist whose own daughter cut off contact for several years and eventually reconciled, Dr. Joshua Coleman is uniquely qualified to guide parents in navigating these fraught interactions. He helps to alleviate the ongoing feelings of shame, hurt, guilt, and sorrow that commonly attend these dynamics. By placing estrangement into a cultural context, Dr. Coleman helps parents better understand the mindset of their adult children and teaches them how to implement the strategies for reconciliation and healing that he has seen work in his forty years of practice. Rules of Estrangement gives parents the language and the emotional tools to engage in meaningful conversation with their child, the framework to cultivate a healthy relationship moving forward, and the ability to move on if reconciliation is no longer possible. While estrangement is a complex and tender topic, Dr. Coleman's insightful approach is based on empathy and understanding for both the parent and the adult child.

Reconnecting with Your Estranged Adult Child

Author: Tina Gilbertson
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1608686582
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
Parents whose adult children have cut off contact wonder: How did this happen? Where did I go wrong? What happened to my loving child? Over time, holidays, birthdays, and even the birth of grandchildren may pass in silence. Anguish may turn into anger. While time, in and of itself, does not necessarily heal, actions do, and while every estrangement includes situation-specific variables, there are practical, effective, and universal techniques for understanding and healing these not-uncommon breaches. Psychotherapist Tina Gilbertson has developed these techniques and tools over years of face-to-face and online work with parents, who have found her strategies transformative and even life-changing. Gilbertson cuts through the blame, shame, and guilt on both sides of the broken relationship. Parents will feel heard and understood but also challenged — and guided — to reclaim their role as"tone setter" and grow psychologically. Exercises, examples, and sample scripts empower parents who have felt powerless. Gilbertson shows that reconciliation is a step-by-step process, but the effort is well worth it. It is never too late to renew relations and experience better-than-ever bonds.

Done With The Crying

Author: Sheri McGregor
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780997352207
Category : FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS
Languages : en
Pages : 351

Book Description
In this encouraging book, Sheri McGregor helps parents of estranged adult children break free from emotional pain and move forward in their lives. With the latest research, her own experience, and insight from more than 9,000 parents, McGregor covers the growing trend of estranged adults from loving families. Devastated parents can be happy again.

Fault Lines

Author: Karl Pillemer, Ph.D.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593539133
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Book Description
Real solutions to a hidden epidemic: family estrangement. Estrangement from a family member is one of the most painful life experiences. It is devastating not only to the individuals directly involved--collateral damage can extend upward, downward, and across generations, More than 65 million Americans suffer such rifts, yet little guidance exists on how to cope with and overcome them. In this book, Karl Pillemer combines the advice of people who have successfully reconciled with powerful insights from social science research. The result is a unique guide to mending fractured families. Fault Lines shares for the first time findings from Dr. Pillemer's ten-year groundbreaking Cornell Reconciliation Project, based on the first national survey on estrangement; rich, in-depth interviews with hundreds of people who have experienced it; and insights from leading family researchers and therapists. He assures people who are estranged, and those who care about them, that they are not alone and that fissures can be bridged. Through the wisdom of people who have "been there," Fault Lines shows how healing is possible through clear steps that people can use right away in their own families. It addresses such questions as: How do rifts begin? What makes estrangement so painful? Why is it so often triggered by a single event? Are you ready to reconcile? How can you overcome past hurts to build a new future with a relative? Tackling a subject that is achingly familiar to almost everyone, especially in an era when powerful outside forces such as technology and mobility are lessening family cohesion, Dr. Pillemer combines dramatic stories, science-based guidance, and practical repair tools to help people find the path to reconciliation.

Family Estrangement

Author: Kylie Agllias
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317136594
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

Book Description
Family estrangement is larger than conflict and more complicated than betrayal. It is entwined in contradictory beliefs, values, behaviours and goals and is the result of at least one member of the family considering reconciliation impossible and/or undesirable. The cessation of familial relations, whether that involves rejection or deciding to leave, can be an inordinately traumatising experience. Whilst data suggests that around 1 in 12 people are estranged from at least one family member this topic is rarely discussed or researched. Based on the author’s in-depth research and exploration of the topic of estrangement, Family Estrangement: A Matter of Perspective captures the unique lived experiences of both estrangee and estranger. Offering multiple perspectives drawn from academic and popular literature as well as case studies, the book contextualises its chapters within current theoretical understandings of family relationships and estrangement, including Loss and Grief theories, Attachment Theory and Bowen Family Systems Theory. Practice sections provide estranged readers and professionals with a structured approach to exploring the various aspects of estrangement within a family and to help them identify resilience, strengths and strategies which individuals may harness as they attempt to live with estrangement. Written with the aim to provide guidance in understanding estrangement in context, this book is suitable for estranged family members and all professionals who encounter and work with people affected by estrangement, including social workers, counsellors, psychologists, allied health professionals, doctors, nurses and legal professions.

Brothers, Sisters, Strangers

Author: Fern Schumer Chapman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525561692
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
A warm, empathetic guide to understanding, coping with, and healing from the unique pain of sibling estrangement "Whenever I tell people that I am working on a book about sibling estrangement, they sit up a little straighter and lean in, as if I've tapped into a dark secret." Fern Schumer Chapman understands the pain of sibling estrangement firsthand. For the better part of forty years, she had nearly no relationship with her only brother, despite many attempts at reconnection. Her grief and shame were devastating and isolating. But when she tried to turn to others for help, she found that a profound stigma still surrounded estrangement, and that very little statistical and psychological research existed to help her better understand the rift that had broken up her family. So she decided to conduct her own research, interviewing psychologists and estranged siblings as well as recording the extraordinary story of her own rift with her brother--and subsequent reconciliation. Brothers, Sisters, Strangers is the result--a thoughtfully researched memoir that illuminates both the author's own story and the greater phenomenon of estrangement. Chapman helps readers work through the challenges of rebuilding a sibling relationship that seems damaged beyond repair, as well as understand when estrangement is the best option. It is at once a detailed framework for understanding sibling estrangement, a beacon of solidarity and comfort for the estranged, and a moving memoir about family trauma, addiction, grief, and recovery.

When Parents Hurt

Author: Joshua Coleman, PhD
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061877239
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
A unique book helping parents whose relationship with their older or adult child has not turned out as they expected deal with their pain, shame, and sense of loss, and take steps toward healing. This unique book supports parents who have lost the opportunity to be the parent they desperately wanted to be and who are mourning the loss of a harmonious relationship with their child. Through case examples and healing exercises, Dr. Coleman helps parents: • Reduce anger, guilt, and shame • Learn how temperament, the teen years, their own or a partner’s mistakes, and divorce can harm the parent-child bond • Come to terms with their imperfections and their child’s • Develop strategies for reaching out and for maintaining their self-esteem through trying times • Understand how society’s expectations contribute to the risk of parental wounds. By helping parents recognize what they can do and let go of what they cannot, Dr. Coleman helps families develop more positive ways of relating to themselves and each other.

Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Breaking the Ties That Bind

Author: Amy J. L. Baker
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393075982
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Book Description
An examination of adults who have been manipulated by divorcing parents. Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) occurs when divorcing parents use children as pawns, trying to turn the child against the other parent. This book examines the impact of PAS on adults and offers strategies and hope for dealing with the long-term effects.

Art of Estrangement

Author: Pamela Anne Patton
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271053836
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Book Description
"Examines the influential role of visual images in reinforcing the efforts of Spain's Christian-ruled kingdoms to renegotiate the role of their Jewish minority following the territorial expansions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries"--Provided by publisher.

I Thought I Was the Only One: Grandparent Alienation: a Global Epidemic

Author: Amanda
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 166322434X
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 383

Book Description
If you are experiencing alienation from your children and grandchildren, this is the book for you! It will be your Bible, your indispensable guide as you try to negotiate your way through some of the most difficult and heart-wrenching days of your life. Amanda is the world’s leading expert on grandparent alienation, and she has distilled into this book her years of experience and understanding as the tireless founder and indispensable leader of Alienated Grandparents Anonymous, the world’s largest organization of estranged grandparents desperate to see and be with their own grandchildren. It is the indispensable Bible for hurt and puzzled and distraught grandparents! ~ The Reverend Dr. John Killinger, author of From Poppy with Love: Letters from a Grandfather to the Grandchildren He Isn’t Allowed to See Amanda has provided a comprehensive and groundbreaking guide to the seemingly increasing intergenerational phenomenon of grandparents who are cut off from adult children and grandchildren. This is a must-read for anyone experiencing the grief, isolation, shame and trauma associated with such situations. By sharing selected experiences from grandparents in her own words along with what has been gleaned from experts in family estrangement, alienation, and legal approaches, Amanda brings light and hope to affected grandparents. Themes of bravery, understanding, encouragement, hope, and ultimate love of family enduring amid impossible circumstances are present throughout this pioneering book. ~ Carol Hosmer Golly, PhD, PL, MSW, LCSW, RPTS, Child/Adolescent Family Therapist Amanda is a leader and unique voice in the movement to bring help, healing and awareness for those dealing with the trauma of being an alienated grandparent. In her book, she brings her years of experience, reading, and advocacy to help the thousands of grandparents suffering with the profound pain being cut off from contact with their grandchildren. She has probably talked to and reached more alienated grandparents than anyone I know and it shows in her new book. Highly recommended. ~ Dr. Joshua Coleman, author, When Parents Hurt: Compassionate Strategies When You and Your Grown Child Don’t Get Along (HarperCollins).