Coping with the Heartbreak of Parent-Child Estrangement: Finding a Path Back
Whenever one of my patients reflects on her daughter, she reminisces about spending time together in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for those challenging first five weeks following childbirth, fervently hoping her child would make it through. She also cherishes their trips visiting various colleges and subsequently assisting her as they settled into the dormitory. Additionally, she fondly recounts their journey across Europe not too long ago when both were amused by their clumsy efforts to seek directions in French. With tears welling up, she shares these recollections as she explains the shock she felt upon hearing from her daughter that she didn’t want her in her life anymore. Her 25-year-old daughter mentioned that during therapy, she found out her mother had been "emotionally abusive" when she was younger, which negatively impacted her mental well-being whenever they were together. “I’m so bewildered,” my patient expressed as she grabbed a box of tissues. “We u...