Adult children cutting off parents as some blame therapy for family estrangements

Amid a reported surge in , some have questioned whether therapy could play a role in the family fracture trend.

Nearly four in 10 Americans are currently estranged from at least one close family member, according to a 2025 YouGov poll of 4,395 U.S. adults, including 24% from a sibling, 16% from a parent and 10% from a child.

While therapy can be helpful in facilitating communication and mending relationships, some believe it could contribute to "cutoff culture."

5 REASONS MORE AMERICANS ARE CUTTING OFF THEIR OWN PARENTS, ACCORDING TO PSYCHOLOGIST

In two recent large-scale surveys of over 5,200 U.S. parents who were estranged from adult children, 1,014 parents reported that their children within the year before the estrangement.

Meanwhile, 515 parents reported that their adult children had indicated therapy influenced their decision about the relationship, and 1,254 said their child had received a mental health diagnosis.

(The surveys were not peer-reviewed or nationally representative and relied on parents' accounts of their adult childrens experiences, limiting what can be concluded about therapys role in estrangement.)

Richard Blake, Ph.D., a Texas-based psychology researcher with a focus on anxiety and family estrangement, refers to the trend as an "overcorrection" happening in todays society.

"There is a lot of debate online about whether it's happening or not," Blake, who was a researcher in the surveys referenced above and has written a book about how therapy could be fueling family estrangement, told Fox News Digital.

"I hear it from both sides. I hear from parents who say, My child said my therapist should cut you off, and people who've told me, My therapist told me I should cut my parents off. How much it's happening and when it's appropriate and inappropriate is where the nuance comes in."

Laura Wellington, a Connecticut mother who has been estranged from her adult daughter since 2024, also weighed in on the potential role therapists play in the growing divide.

"Do therapists, in my opinion, play a role in the estrangement epidemic? 100%," she told Fox News Digital. "But that doesn't mean there aren't some really good therapists out there."

Wellington, known on social media as "Doormat Mom," said she believes some therapists have contributed to by focusing too narrowly on one person's experience, when its actually a "multi-pronged situation."

She said some therapists have even contacted her to reconsider their approach to estrangement cases.

"I've had them come to me and ask me, What did we miss?" she said.

Wellington added that she has seen parents encouraged to apologize to their adult children — something she supports when the parent has done something wrong — but believes therapists should consider the broader circumstances surrounding the estrangement.

Differences in values can contribute to family fractures, even in the absence of severe behavior such as violence or abuse, according to Blake.

"People are cutting people off because of divergence in values," he said.

As one example, Blake pointed to a recent online comment in which someone wrote, "I cut my parents off because they didn't condemn ICE enough."

At the same time, he emphasized that there are legitimate circumstances in which ending