Managing Difficult Parents

Many adults have ongoing relationship issues with their parents and wish it could be different. Often a person experiences grief when the relationship is bad and nothing like the one that you thought you would have with your mum or dad. It is worse if your partner has a negative attitude about your parent, as you are then confronted with a reality of a bad relationship that you might otherwise try to overlook. If a parent comes to stay in your home for any period of time, things may get worse.

Become better at managing the relationship

In counseling you can learn how to understand your negative emotion and why you feel resentful, guilty or manipulated. Instead of reacting to that negative emotion, learn how to consider your parents perspective and choose to respond to your parent in a way that is honest but nonetheless appropriate, so that you continue to present as the person that you want to be.