A guide for parents whose adult children have cut off contact that reveals the hidden logic of alienation, explores its cultural causes, and offers practical advice for parents trying to reestablish contact with their adult children.

Readers and professionals agree, this book could help you!

'A Ray of Hope' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reader review

'A really helpful book for estranged parents' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reader Review

'I feel so much lighter after reading this book' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reader review

'I've seen many parents and adult children grappling with these issues, and this is exactly the book they have all been waiting for.'
Lori Gottlieb


Has your adult child cut off contact with you?
How can you heal the pain and start to build a bridge back to them?

Labelled a silent epidemic by a growing number of therapists and researchers, estrangement is one of the most disorienting and painful experiences of a parent's life. Popular opinion typically tells a one-sided story of parents who got what they deserved or overly entitled adult children who wrongly blame their parents. However, the reasons for alienation are far more complex and varied. As a result of rising rates of individualism, an increasing cultural emphasis on happiness, growing economic insecurity, and a historically recent perception that parents are obstacles to personal growth, many parents find themselves forever shut out of the lives of their adult children and grandchildren.

As a trusted psychologist whose own daughter cut off contact for several years and eventually reconciled, Dr Joshua Coleman is uniquely qualified to guide parents in navigating these fraught interactions. He helps to alleviate the ongoing feelings of shame, hurt, guilt, and sorrow that commonly attend these dynamics. By placing estrangement into a cultural context, Dr Coleman helps parents better understand the mindset of their adult children and teaches them how to implement the strategies for reconciliation and healing that he has seen work in his forty years of practice. Rules of Estrangement gives parents the language and the emotional tools to engage in meaningful conversation with their child, the framework to cultivate a healthy relationship moving forward, and the ability to move on if reconciliation is no longer possible.

While estrangement is a complex and tender topic, Dr Coleman's insightful approach is based on empathy and understanding for both the parent and the adult child.

Shows how to navigate the challenges of estrangement with compassion and empathy, and offers adults, and their children, a path forward.