I have a similar teenage story as well. I was branded a liar that no one would believe, and soon felt as if I was one. That perhaps I was embellishing things, or taking things out of context. It took another 15 years to get over that, and walk away.

When I read the original article the other day, I re-lived every conversation I've ever had before the holidays with my paternal aunt over the past few years.

As with most of the other comments here, this was my mother. She was horrible: smothering, physically and emotionally abusive, holier-than-thou, mean, needy, and in complete denial at what an asshole she was. When my parents divorced, she felt is was ok to confide *in detail* to her 12 yr old about her new awesome sex…

I like to put some evolutionary perspective on my problems with mommy dearest. Really, biologically, all we need to do as parents is birth a child and keep it alive until it can fend for itself. All the emotional attachment is just a mechanism of incentive to protect the child and keep it alive to further the human…

I cut off contact with my mother in 2003 because she *wouldn't* treat me like an adult. She's very judgmental and kept telling how I should live my life. I'm the firstborn but she kept treating me like a toddler, even after graduating college, having a job, etc. After years of her taunts I finally stopped talking…

I have gone from complete worship to why do I still talk to these people, who were far from perfect parents. I can give many examples similar to what people have listed. My mother simply responds to any grievance I have felt, "you don't know how good you had it. You should see some people's parents." True. But…

*Ginormous virtual hugs*

The problem is, these parents who do wrong and then deny it ever happened or don't see any wrong they've done are actually, literally, narcissists. They can't see their own faults. This woman is in fact a narcissist. She did something gravely wrong as a parent but can't see that so she blames her kids. My mom is the…

I had to cut my mom out of my life for a few years, because she was just unhealthy for me. The constant niggling and sneaky, passive aggressive criticisms, and the benevolent sexism I got from her did affect me so much, I was constantly doubting myself and everything I did, from what I ate, how I dressed, to who my…

We boomers were the first generation with parents who were ultra-concerned about making sure their children had a "better" childhood than they had.

the truth - i am proud of her children for getting the fuck away from her.

I'm estranged from my father (because of an evil stepmother situation where he chose her over me, resulting in lots of fun emotional and verbal abuse and my having to leave at 16). After a few years, my extended family (all on my deceased mom's side), finally stopped mentioning that I should try to patch things up and…

As someone who's a parent now, I spend a lot of time thinking about how painful it must have been for my estranged mom (now deceased) to have a son who cut off contact with her for nearly twenty years. I don't second-guess my own behavior - she had classic borderline personality disorder, was horribly abusive to me my…

Don't talk a lot to my mom, but I make a point of visiting her whenever I'm back in Colorado. She's a compulsive hoarder and raised me in abject filth, unable to part with any of her things. I tried cleaning her mess of an "office" (really, just dozens of cigarette-smelling boxes filled with crap she hasn't used or…

My wife and I came from completely different experiences when it comes to family. My experience was positive: I always knew my parents loved and supported me. Hers was negative, a family full of abuse, neglect, and manipulation, where the only way anyone does something for someone is if they get something in return.

Ugh, that fear of becoming responsible for a parent if you re-initiate contact. I think about it fairly often. I don't want to be responsible for my father's elder care or funeral expenses when the time comes. Am I beholden to him because I'm an only child and that my mother (who I have a relationship with) continues…

I think this line most likely hints at exactly what that email spoke about, "When something, or more specifically, someone, no longer supports the view you have of yourself — get rid of them!"

Can't star this statement enough. In my family's case, it is a collective delusion. My father was an abusive alcoholic, mom was pathologically codependent, and the extended family didn't believe in "interfering". So many horrific things were either done to us or happened around us, and no matter how dangerous or…

Oh for sure. My mother had a running narrative in her head about the glorious childhood she gave her children. And when she was in a good mood, she could be wonderful. But when things were bad, as they were often several times in a single day, they were horrible. She would become and enraged, terrifying monster…

Yeah I have the same issue and cut off all contact with my biological parents. Turns out 20 years of emotional abuse, manipulation, gaslighting and starvation didn't fill me with the warm fuzzies. They of course think they did everything right and there was no way I had a two year "relationship" with child molesters…