Dealing with the Effects of Growing up with Difficult Parents - Journey Coaching & Counseling

Growing up with a difficult parent can leave you feeling like nothing you do is ever right or enough. It can also leave you feeling like you don't have the right to express your feelings, needs, or desires.   Your parent may have been difficult because of issues with mental illness, personality disorder, or addiction.

The psychological experiences for children in these homes is very similar.  It leaves wounds that carry into adulthood and can affect various aspects of one’s life, no matter how hard you try to “forget about it”, “put it behind you”, or simply just try to avoid talking about it.  

You may find yourself in relationships that feel oddly familiar, once again, leaving you feeling frustrated, resentful, and lonely.
 

Sometimes, men and women who grew up with these types of parents lack self-confidence and may have a difficult time trusting others.  They don’t always know how to trust their own inner voice and, consequently, may have a hard time making decisions about their lives, about what would be healthy for them, about choosing healthy people.  

I've been there...I know your pain.  

Hi, my name is Renee Miller and I am a Marriage and Family Therapist at Journey Coaching and Counseling Services. When I first began working with men and women in my practice, I noticed that several of my clients shared stories that sounded very similar to my own childhood story. 

While I had worked through many of my issues in my own therapy process regarding my parents, who were crazy-making, guilt-inducing, and infuriatingly difficult, I hadn’t realized how prevalent this problem was.  I found that I really enjoyed working with clients who were  on a journey to wholeness and healing from this similar type of past.  

If you are still struggling from the effects of being raised by a difficult parent, I would love to help. I teach people how to assertively set and communicate healthier relationship boundaries so that they can stop feeling guilty and resentful. They also learn to effectively express their anger, rather than allowing their anger to overwhelm them by expressing it destructively, either outwardly or inwardly.

We will explore how guilt and anger were used by your parents to manipulate and control you as a child. We will explore how guilt, anger, and manipulative behaviors maintain unhealthy boundaries in your current day relationships, and how that ultimately leads to resentment, unexpressed rage, disconnectedness, and loneliness. You will learn how to recognize and change ineffective ways of expressing yourself, with your parents and with others who matter most in  your life.

If any of this sounds like something you would like to explore more, please contact me via phone at (714) 296-8052, or email me at either reneemiller@journeyccs.com  or journeyccs@sbcglobal.net