March 1, 2021
All families have their squabbles and days when one member might not speak to another. However, there is one type of painful situation where the communication between family members stops; this is family estrangement.
Often, family estrangement occurs when an adult child is learning to cope with and get rid of harmful people in their lives, but it can happen under other circumstances as well.
This article will explore family estrangement, what it is, and what a person might do to help themselves when facing this devastating event.
The Definition of Family Estrangement
A good definition of family estrangement is as follows:
Family Estrangement (FE) is an emotional distancing and cessation of communication between one or more members of a family. It is the breakdown of the support from and to a person who can no longer trust their family to be on their side any longer.
Often FE happens when two members of a family disagree on the facts of a matter such as in the case of childhood trauma. The adult survivor might come out and talk about what happened to them, but the other member or members of the family think he or she is lying. This can lead to family estrangement, where the survivor refuses to speak to the family and often Vise Versa.
However, there are some situations where a family member becomes shunned by the rest of the group to the point where they may be an outcast to the entire family.
Any way one sees it, family estrangement is excruciatingly painful.
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