Article about Family Estrangement and Trauma Survivors

[Hope67]

Hi everyone,
This article was posted on 11th June 2023 in Psychology Today.

It's title is: "How Family Estrangement May Benefit Trauma Survivors" and it was written by Amanda Ann Gregory.

Here is a link to the article:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/simplifying-complex-trauma/202306/how-family-estrangement-may-benefit-trauma-survivors

Hope 

[Kizzie]

Good article Hope, tks!  I've been NC with my NB and the majority of my extended N family for years now and am very LC with my NM.  Narcissism runs in my family and I could never think, feel or breathe because there was always a lot of drama.  When I disengaged from them I felt like I could finally think, feel, breathe and I certainly felt much safer.  It was hard at first though because the constant crisis fills your life up, you have to get used to the quiet and the calm strangely enough.

I don't tell many people I am estranged from family, just people who are trauma survivors and I know will not judge. I have a visceral reaction when I hear the sentiment "Family is everything"  - definitely not the case with us. It's true what the author suggests, that sometimes family has to be nothing.