Cutting Loose

In all respects, you appear to be well-adjusted, reasonably successful adult, but in the presence of your parents, you feel vulnerable, dependent, guilty, insecure—childlike. They manipulate you, smother you, demand your attention or elicit your resentment. In clear, nonclinical terms, renowned psychotherapist Dr. Howard Halpern shows you how to break these familiar family routines so that you can build healthy, rewarding parent-child relationships. He teaches you, for example, how to handle martyred mothers, despotic fathers, and moralistic, unloving, or seductive parents. He also addresses the sensitive topics of how to deal with aging, divorced, or dying parents. Resolving conflicts with your parents will enable you, finally, to cut loose—to start being yourself rather than your parent's child. Without guilt, revenge, or fear as your motives, you will be able to make the choices in love, work, and values that do justice to who you are. With more than thirty-five years of experience in psychotherapy, Dr. Halpern enables the adult child to understand his or her parent and foster a positive, healthy adult relationship.

Howard M. Halpern was a psychotherapist who focused on severing or realigning burdensome relationships.