Adult Children of High-Conflict Parents: Find Freedom from Your Past, Heal the Pain of Toxic Relational Trauma, and Cultivate Lasting Self-Love

High-conflict parents are beyond toxic. Learn to heal the invisible wounds of growing up with an emotionally abusive parent with this powerful, evidence-based guide.

Did you grow up in an emotionally invalidating environment? Were your parents verbally abusive toward you--or each other? Were they self-righteous, or even vengeful? Did they thrive on creating family drama, dysfunction, and conflict? Did you often feel bullied by them? If so, you probably had high-conflict parents, and you may have developed chronic relational trauma--enduring harm caused by one or more parents--as an adult. So, how can you heal the invisible wounds of your childhood, and build the life and relationships you deserve?

Adult Children of High-Conflict Parents offers practical skills to help you identify, cope with, and heal from dysfunctional family dynamics. Using a blend of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), internal family systems therapy (IFS), EMDR, and mindfulness, the integrative approach in this guide will help you break unhealthy relationship patterns, set boundaries with others, cultivate self-compassion and self-awareness, and thrive as an adult. You'll also find tools to help you manage intense emotions of your own, understand where these emotions come from, and finally break the cycle of trauma and emotional abuse.

The long-term emotional, psychological, and physical effects of relational trauma can be devastating--leading to low self-esteem, low self-worth, anxiety, guilt, excessive anger, and even physical health issues and substance abuse problems. But there are ways you can begin to heal. With this compassionate guide, you can move past the pain of growing up with high-conflict parents, and start moving toward a life of vitality, meaning, and happiness.

Tracy S. Hutchinson, PhD, is an academic, psychotherapist, and clinical supervisor with decades of experience teaching and helping people understand and heal from the unseen emotional dynamics rooted in their relationships. She has taught at the master's and doctoral level as an assistant professor and faculty at several universities, and has published in many academic journals and textbooks. Hutchinson has presented both nationally and internationally in the field of mental health counseling and psychology, and currently teaches at the College of William & Mary in the graduate clinical mental health counseling program. She is also a psychotherapist in private practice, and specializes in narcissistic abuse and recovery in families, relationships, and adult children of high-conflict parents.

Hutchinson has been featured in various national news outlets and publications such as CNBC, ABC, CBS, the Associated Press, and national and international magazines such as Vogue, SELF, and "Ask America's Experts" in Women's World magazine. Her popular columns in Psychology Today, "The Pulse of Mental Health" and "Silencing Your Inner Bully," are widely read with millions of views.