Joshua Coleman, PhD, explores a painful part of family estrangement: losing not only contact, but control over the story of who you are. He asks readers to hold two truths at once - real harm must not be hidden, yet no accusation, screenshot, or single memory can fully capture a family or a person.

Dr. Joshua Coleman, Ph.D., explains hostile dependency as a pattern where someone remains emotionally attached but shows it through anger, criticism, withdrawal, or rejection. For parents caught between defending themselves, withdrawing, or pushing for repair, this piece offers language for a painful bind and a steadier way to respond without losing themselves.

A clinical explanation of how dysfunctional family systems, emotional abuse, and enmeshment lead many adult children to estrangement