[srmanuel]

What about we are dramatically overthinking this situation, because being estranged from someone in your family is nothing new and probably hasn’t changed over the years...

Nearly every family that has two parents, more than one sibling combined with grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, probably has some that can’t stand each other and are estranged....

Most families I know have a crazy uncle who no one wants to be around....

Nasty divorces that lead to children dislike one parent or the other, parents that can’t stand each other after the divorce....

Any number of reasons can lead members of a family to become estranged....

[ecomcon]

Yeah, everything’s just fine.

[fireman15]

What about we are dramatically overthinking this situation, because being estranged from someone in your family is nothing new and probably hasn't changed over the years...

You make some good points but they contradict the experiences of especially those of us who live in liberal hot beads. The elderly have truly been abandoned in many parts of the country and it goes hand in hand with the left's villainization of previous generations and condemnation of our nation's history.

It is not a problem of "dramatic overthinking"; we are witnessing an undeniable trend toward the break down of family in this country. It may be a frog in water being heated up on the stove situation in some parts of the country. But if one were to take a snapshot of life in subsequent decades over just the last 100 years, a dramatic and disturbing trend would be very obvious. To deny this is rationally impossible.

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[Dilbert San Diego]

I have experienced this, such as attending Thanksgiving and someone insists on dropping liberal political statements, and then they take umbrage if anyone takes issue with it. People I know have told me similar stories of domineering annoying opinionated people in their families. It happens.

[PGR88]

Most families I know have a crazy uncle who no one wants to be around....

Yes, that's absolutely true. But with that, one can argue our society has moved to the opposite extreme of "screw him."

[HartleyMBaldwin]

“Most families I know have a crazy uncle who no one wants to be around....”

Hey! Have you been talking to my family? Don’t listen to them, they’re all nuts.

[LibertarianLiz]

Any number of reasons can lead members of a family to become estranged....

Thank you. A lot of people here are making light of this type of situation; but, I will tell you that you do NOT know what is going on in a house, unless you are living there.

I became estranged from my family some years ago. It was a situation that had been brewing since my early childhood; but, neither of my parents would act to stop the emotional, and sometimes physical, abuse that I had to endure at the hands of one of my brothers. When I would bring it up, my mother would make excuses for him; and, my father (whom I loved dearly) would tell me that the problem was that I was too sensitive.

Now, I was a sensitive child and still am as an adult. It is who I am; but, when I was a child, I was also very, very shy. Anyway, to be feeling hurt by the downright cruel verbal abuse from one (and sometimes two) brothers; and, to be told it is my own fault for letting it bother me, just made me feel that there was no one who was going to help me.

The dam didn't really break with me until I was married with children and living about as far away from my family as I could. It was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary and myself and my brothers were chipping in to pay for the party. All except this one brother, he would not chip in. So, it ended up being a bigger bill for the three of us; and, then he gave my parents a wad of cash for their anniversary. My mother tried to give it to my one other brother to pay for the jerk's portion of the party; that brother refused to take it. Some months later, my parents were visiting and my mother was defending this particular brother about something or other. I blew up, and that was it with our relationship.

When my husband drove my parents to the airport for them to return home, my parents were mystified by why I was so angry.

Anyway, this was only the flash point; but, the problem had been there for decades and my parents just ignored it. My parents are both deceased at this time, and I have no contact with my remaining siblings. It was not easy to pull away, people do not understand something like that; and, I was criticized for doing so without anyone asking why this had happened. Because I had walked away, it was all my fault. However, after I walked away, I found my life became a lot more peaceful.

So, don't be so quick to judge someone for walking away. Sometimes you have to for your own emotional and mental health.

[tbw2]

Politics is increasingly a factor. Don’t talk to the infidel in-laws.

[lepton]

What about we are dramatically overthinking this situation, because being estranged from someone in your family is nothing new and probably hasn’t changed over the years...

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The article is about how it HAS changed over the years, and not the slow changes over a generation, but the rapid changes in just the past few years. Yes, there have always been the divorces, the alcoholics, and all of the other reasons for estrangement - but this is on top of that, and as noted, is often a surprise as there was no history of abuse or even heated contention. Growth rates of major depression in the young of 60+% in 3 years is more than just the normal things going on, or the behavior of parents.