5 Ways to Protect Your Energy From Toxic Family Members

Key points

Protect yourself by sharing less personal information with unsafe family members.

Keep conversations light when deeper topics repeatedly cause conflict.

Set clear standards for visits to keep interactions safe and predictable.

In contrast to the current discourse, many adults with toxic family members do not want to lose contact with them. In fact, they often want to be closer. In therapy , clients describe trying many ways to address conflict, work through old pain, and build more intimate relationships. I help them with these efforts by offering insights and tools they may not have considered and by introducing new approaches to old problems.

When those efforts run out, and a family member will not change, the question becomes, “What now?” While some adults choose no co