What Is Emotional Isolation?

Emotional cutoff is the core concept of Bowen's family therapy. It means that in the family system, those children who are deeply involved in emotions may leave their homes to live in other places and maintain a spatial distance from the family; or Communicate with your parents, or cut off actual contact with your family by self-deception, and tell yourself that you are free from family restraints.

Emotional cutoff is the core concept of Bowen's family therapy. It means that in the family system, those children who are deeply involved in emotions may leave their homes to live in other places and maintain a spatial distance from the family; or Communicate with your parents, or cut off actual contact with your family by self-deception, and tell yourself that you are free from family restraints.

Chinese name

Emotional isolation

Applied discipline

psychology

Introduction to emotional isolation

Emotional isolation is the core concept of Bowen's family therapy. It means that in the family system, those children who are deeply involved in emotions will try various strategies to resist fusion in order to seek independence. They may leave their homes to live in another place and maintain a spatial distance from the family; or they may establish a barrier in their hearts without communicating with their parents; Bondage.

The higher the degree of emotional integration between parents and children, the greater the possibility of emotional truncation. Therefore, emotional isolation often occurs in families with high levels of anxiety and emotional dependence. In addition, if there is an emotional separation between parents and grandparents, the likelihood of this separation between them and their children increases. ^[1]

Emotional Isolation Research

Emotional isolation is a way for people to deal with poor self-differentiation between generations, and its purpose is to release the emotional constraints that they have never solved. However, emotional isolation is not a real relief. In life, people often regard separation from their parents as a sign of growth, and measure their maturity by maintaining independence. They sometimes mistake emotional isolation for maturity. In fact, emotional distance does not represent true independence and maturity. The unresolved emotional attachment between them and their parents still plays a huge role, and the conflict with the original family will not be cancelled because of the distance.

Emotional isolation makes people more vulnerable and especially vulnerable. Generally speaking, under stressful conditions, people who have more emotional isolation are more likely to develop symptoms.

Bowen emphasized that an adult must resolve his emotional attachment to his native family. Without such self-differentiation, family therapists may be unknowingly involved in family conflicts and become the role of family triangles. They may identify with a particular family member or project their unresolved problems to another person. Therapist is likely to be harmed when the family struggles to resist change and resolutely maintains stability. Therefore, family therapists must stay in touch with their internalized family and not be restrained but independent. Only in this way will the therapist's unsolved past difficulties not affect the treatment process. ^[1]