Well, this is sad and terrible: “Many experts believe that estrangements between adult children and their parents are becoming an epidemic in the U.S.” “Psychologists say young adults’ definition of harmful parental behavior is changing.” They “consider ordinary conflict to be much worse than it once was” and “have a much broader definition than their elders of psychological harm.” “Many now view repeated criticism, strong disagreements and other painful relationship conflicts as abusive.” “In their minds, they see themselves as more enlightened and therefore more justified to cut off for more reasons.”
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Replying to @sfmcguire79
IS there really a "rise" though, or just more talk of it? How good is the actual research evidence? There's a lot of hype out there...

Sep 27, 2026 · 12:04 AM UTC

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The people I know who did this or were advised to do this were in therapy - they had wonderful families and endless support but somehow convinced themselves their parents were their problem. Could be the rise in therapy plus pressure to "break ties" over political preferences. 🤷🏻‍♀️
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There's been a rise, but this seems like a continuation of complaints about how selfish older generations have been. Like this article spends no time probing how much effort parents are putting into fixing relationships... only into the effort kids put into tolerating them.
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This is the correct question, for me. One of the most enlightening (and infuriating) things about the social media era is that it shows the vulnerability of many to deal with new information that they don't have any direct experience with. They will default to their priors or what they're told based on their own life and incorrectly intuiting a likelihood or rate of some phenomenon based on that.
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This is my thought as well, maybe there is a bit of a rise but it also just wasn't talked about as much. My parents were no contact with 3/4 of their parents, and all their siblings as well (my dad has some nice extended family though) since before me and my siblings were born
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You mean to tell me 1/3 or redditors may not be representative of the population?
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Yep. My step grandparents were NC with their parents. Grandpa was NC with great grandma. Step Mom was NC with her mother in law. I’m NC with bio Mom. Estrangement has always existed.
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Me, estranging my parents back in the 1700s: I move two towns over
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There’s 100% a rise. And therapists encourage it.
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Weren't people from the distant past famous for carrying grudges forever? Particularly in some regions of the US where pride was some people's only currency?
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