Family Therapy for Adult Children and Parents

Sometimes the most challenging period in a parent-child relationship occurs when the child becomes an adult. To the parent, the child may feel unknown, distant, or cold. To the child, the parent may feel critical, unaware, and rejecting.

How can this disconnection be understood?

Often, ruptures occur in adult parent-child relationships because the child has developed an identity that differs from that of the family, or because injuries to the emotional bond have not fully healed.

The practice specializes in family therapy for this stage of life. The work focuses on restoring the emotional bond within the family so that the parent is experienced as a source of safety and the child is able to receive the parent’s care. This work can include parents and their adult children, siblings, and blended families.

The method of treatment is Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT), based in attachment science. The principles of EFFT are drawn from Emotionally Focused Therapy, an intervention that has a 70-75% effectiveness rate for repairing negative interaction patterns between loved ones.

When families engage in EFFT, they learn to restructure their parent-child interactions to become more responsive, engaged, and able to express and hear needs.

To learn more about Emotionally Focused Family Therapy(EFFT), a scientifically-based practice, please schedule a consultation.