Therapy for Adult Children
Therapy specifically for children from dysfunctional families in Maryland and Washington DC
Therapy to Build a New Relationship with Your Parents
These clients desperately want a relationship with their parents that feels mature, fair, and connected. Adult children describe struggling to connect with parents who offer unsolicited advice, disapprove of their choices, use guilt to get their way, and struggle to respect their boundaries. Some enter therapy to cope with their emotionally immature parent(s) who simply cannot meet their needs.
For some, these family issues are new and frustrating. For most, these relationship issues date back years, even decades.
This type of therapy involves helping adult children
Identify their own needs in the relationship
Identify triggers for conflict and pain in the relationship
Manage conflict with parents
Trace origins and gain insight into family dynamics
Finding new ways to engage with parents
Building new communication skills
Boundary setting
Therapy for Adult Children Who Feel Stuck
Our work is a process of learning who they are and what they need, and undoing the unhealthy patterns that keep them trapped.
Themes that arise in therapy include:
Identifying their own needs
Managing conflict with parents
Undoing Generational Patterns (“I want to learn new ways to handle X”)
Tracing origins and gaining insight into family dynamics
Finding new ways to engage with parents
Read Sarah’s articles on therapy in Psychology Today:
Dad has a temper. Everybody in the family knows that to keep a calm house; nobody can upset Dad. Mom frequently reminds the kids not to upset their father and hides potential sources of stress from him like a bad report card, a car dent, or a financial setback. The kids know how to read his moods from little details—like the pitch of his voice or how loudly the front door closes. When they sense their father’s stress increasing, the kids walk on eggshells, taking up as little space as possible.