Article suggests estrangement is not all that uncommon

[recoveringenabler]

Interesting article.

"New research challenges the deeply held notion
that family relationships can’t be dissolved and
suggests that estrangement is not all that uncommon."

Debunking Myths About Estrangement

 

[Tanya M]

Very good article. I agree that it's more common than most people think and as the article suggests, for a variety of reasons.

 

[Origami]

This is very interesting. The article's comments show that it is a very widespread issue. I'm lucky that my parents were loving and stable, but my husband's parents were a different story. We lived through a lot of turmoil with them, but when we moved we were able to keep our contacts to a minimum of the occasional phone call, Christmas cards, etc., which helped our relationship tremendously.

 

[BusynMember]

When Gone Boy took off I read tons on estrangement and went to a psychologist who specialized in attachment problems and adopted adult kids. It was then that I found out, fifteen years ago, that estrangement is epidemic around the world. It's not just bad parents who get snubbed. Usually it is loving parents who tried their best and is not specific to adoption. Many kids decide their parents are toxic and never tell us why.

This has happened in spades since parents no longer always live near their kids and since the divorce rate has hit the rails. Often estrangement happen after the parents divorce, when step parents enter the picture, and also if kids marry someone who doesn't like the parents. Adopted kids estrangement if they don't properly attach. But parents estrange kids too.

I feel fortunate to be quite close to all my kids I raised from infancy. But I loved Gone Boy and that was hard and baffling.