Helping Parents With Difficult, Distant, or Estranged Adult Children

Faced with the loss of contact with adult children and grandchildren, estranged parents experience multiple sources of emotional distress. Not only is there a sense of loss related to the decrease or end of interaction, but they are also likely to experience feelings of guilt, shame and potential social isolation arising out of the perception that they are in some way responsible for what has happened. Although estrangement may be associated with a history of neglect, abuse, rejection of a child’s sexual or political orientation, many times estrangement or alienation occurs for unrelated reasons wholly outside of parents’ control.

While mental health professionals frequently encounter estranged parents and children in their practices, few receive training that adequately addresses the specificity of the trauma afflicting this population, facilitates clients’ growth, or enhances the likelihood of reconciliation. Moreover, well-intended therapists who provide guidance to estranged family members may inadvertently worsen the estrangement rather than improve it.

In this webinar, Joshua Coleman, PhD, author of four books, two on the topic of parent-child estrangement, will begin by providing an overview of the current research on the causes of estrangement. He will then discuss both therapeutic pitfalls to avoid as well as treatment modalities proven effective in working with these clients.