Writer Emi Nietfeld says she felt relief when she cut her mom out of her life. Clinical psychologist Joshua Coleman explains why family estrangement is on the rise. This episode was produced by Victoria Chamberlin, edited by Matt Collette and Miranda Kennedy, engineered by Rob Byers and Andrea Kristinsdottir, fact checked by Laura Bullard, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast Support Today, Explained by becoming a Vox Member today: http://www.vox.com/members A 1970's 3-generation family turkey dinner. Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The holidays are basically here.
It's the happiest time of the year for some and for others the opposite.
Life for me after Halloween is literally downhill.
I picked up a snow globe the other day and just wanted to cry.
Nobody wants to go home and see their Republican family members.
There's an increasingly popular option for all the people who don't love seeing their parents during the holidays or or any other time of the year.
You can peace out.
So I cut my dad off like a couple weeks ago.
I fully believe in protecting my own energy.
This is my polite reminder that if you are no contact with your parents, that is okay.
So one thing I really did not.
Expect when I became estranged from my parents was that I was gonna have to be consoling other people about it like semi frequently.
We're gonna take a deep breath and then we're gonna talk about parental estrangement on Today Explained.
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