24/11/2025
Cutting ties with family involves prioritizing your safety & well-being by creating distance from emotionally immature, harmful or narcissistic relationships.
Signs it may be time include consistently feeling used, abused negative, drained, or hurt after interactions, or when boundaries are repeatedly disrespected.
The process can involve establishing low-contact boundaries first and, if those fail, moving to no contact.
Before or after making the decision, it can be helpful to communicate your intentions to supportive friends and family, if you have them, many survivors don't but if you do, members who are not part of the conflict, ask them to not report back to the estranged family member, and seek professional support to navigate the emotional toll.
Signs it may be time to consider cutting ties:
1. They're entitled and make you feel obligated or guilty
2. You consistently are made to feel like a problem, you're shamed, scapegoated, ostracized or made to feel unacceptable
3. Toxic or harmful behavior (like abuse, disrespect, or manipulation) persists despite attempts to address it.
4. Fundamental value differences, such as political or religious beliefs, lead to constant conflict and distress, your family may be racist or homophobic, they may lack empathy or humanity.
5. You feel threatened, your children, home, spouse, job are at risk, they may mobb or bully you at occasions or even by text on group chats, its painful staying connected to them
6. Your autonomy, agency or right to live by your own values are ridiculed or mocked
7. Your mental or physical health is suffering due to the relationship.
8. We often can't heal staying where we are hurt, though we may go to therapy and make changes ourselves, this is will not often make others stop abusing us, we are often left with no other choice because parents, siblings, extended family, etc will not stop abusing, we are responsible for protecting ourselves, even from family
# estrangement
