Sometimes, a family gets too close. Learn how to set boundaries and untangle yourself from enmeshed family relationships.
It’s important to find a therapist who has experience in this area. Here are some things to look for and ask about.
The Best Books For People Dealing With Family Enmeshment
It's crucial to recognize that the concept of physical boundaries varies across cultures and family dynamics.
Use this worksheet to help you make decisions while you are healing from enmeshment.
The difference between a close family and an enmeshed family is how they try to prevent individuality in the name of sameness.
Enmeshment can take a significant toll on the members of the family who are tasked with the emotional labor in enmeshed families.
One of the biggest struggles for people from enmeshed families is balancing their new family (with a partner or children) and their family of origin.
It's not always about permanently severing ties, but about creating the space to develop a strong, independent identity outside of the family.
Ways to describe how enmeshment feels to a friend or partner who is trying to help you work through this experience.
Enmeshment happens along a spectrum, and families experience different consequences of it.
This checklist will help you become informed about how enmeshed your family is and how you would like to navigate some of those patterns.
Can your relationship function how you’d like with this influence from your partner’s family?
In enmeshed families, “no” can be difficult to say and hear.
It’s hard for a family to feel safe and genuinely close when there are problematic patterns of enmeshment.
It's important to remember that telling people what we can and cannot handle is actually a way of showing them we care and love them.
If you want to own your role in the enmeshment and stop participating in these dynamics in adulthood, start here.
Whitney covers three different types of emotional incest from Dr. Patricia Love's book The Emotional Incest Syndrome.
Are you enmeshed or just close? Whitney walks you through 10 signs or symptoms of intense family enmeshment.