From constantly apologizing for things beyond your control to feeling physically uncomfortable when someone might be ...

You don’t just wake up one day bad at love. That stuff is wired in early—through the fights you overheard, the apologies you never got, the emotional labor you carried before you even hit puberty.

We avoid conflict because we have a low tolerance for discomfort. Humans tend to avoid discomfort—whether it be physical, emotional, or mental—whenever possible. Disagreeing with others often results ...

Dysfunctional parenting threatens the bonds between parents and children but it can also damage the bonds between siblings. In dysfunctional households, children may have to compete with each other ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. As we gather with family to spend time together during Thanksgiving, let's be real — not a single table out there is completely tension-free.

The holidays with family are a mix of love and tension, where unresolved conflicts often temper the warmth of togetherness. There’s something extraordinary about being around familiar faces that can ...

The fear that your parents’ comments will seem to your kids the same way they seemed to you is usually unfounded. Many adult children of dysfunctional families don’t want their kids to interact with ...

An emotional orphan has living parents, but they are not expecting these people to be parents in any way. Whether you are fully estranged or low contact, you have finally recognized and reckoned with ...

Family is like Wi-Fi—when it's strong, it keeps everything connected, but at times, it can get weak or even (randomly) disconnect. So since the holidays are getting closer and closer, we decided to ...