Overcoming Childhood Emotional Neglect
I work with people whose emotional needs were not adequately met in childhood or adolescence. The impact of Childhood Emotional Neglect is often overlooked, because it’s invisible, unmemorable, and the absence of something. Therapy can help people who have experienced emotional neglect to make sense of their experiences, build their resources, and reconnect with their wellbeing.
Someone who has experienced childhood emotional neglect might:
Emotional neglect can come from:
Therapy sessions
If you think you may have experienced emotional neglect in childhood or adolescence, I offer a safe space where you can be seen and heard. In the sessions, you would be supported to get to know yourself, your emotions, and needs.
If you tend to feel easily overwhelmed, we can practice ways of calming the over-active nervous system. If you tend to feel disconnected or numb, we can explore ways of coming back into the present.
Sessions can involve learning about how to give yourself the care, compassion, and acceptance that has been missed. The therapy can be an opportunity to explore relationships with others, including your sense of connection to people, how to express yourself and manage boundaries. You would have a space to voice any feelings connected to your past experiences and unmet needs, at a pace that is right for you.
Here is a useful link:
Recognizing and Overcoming Childhood Emotional Neglect
Someone who has experienced childhood emotional neglect might:
- Experience intense emotions (for example: fear, shame, rage, grief, or depression)
- Often feel anxious or on-edge, with strong physical sensations
- Feel emotionally disconnected or empty
- Be highly self-critical, with low self-worth
- Have difficulties trusting people, often feeling rejected or abandoned
- Experience difficulty trusting their own emotions or needs
Emotional neglect can come from:
- A family culture of invalidation in childhood / adolescence
- Complex loss and bereavement early in life
- A home or school environment that felt unsafe
- Parents who were emotionally unavailable or absent (sometimes because of their own mental health problems or addictions)
- Siblings with mental health problems, serious illnesses or addictions
Therapy sessions
If you think you may have experienced emotional neglect in childhood or adolescence, I offer a safe space where you can be seen and heard. In the sessions, you would be supported to get to know yourself, your emotions, and needs.
If you tend to feel easily overwhelmed, we can practice ways of calming the over-active nervous system. If you tend to feel disconnected or numb, we can explore ways of coming back into the present.
Sessions can involve learning about how to give yourself the care, compassion, and acceptance that has been missed. The therapy can be an opportunity to explore relationships with others, including your sense of connection to people, how to express yourself and manage boundaries. You would have a space to voice any feelings connected to your past experiences and unmet needs, at a pace that is right for you.
Here is a useful link:
Recognizing and Overcoming Childhood Emotional Neglect
Telephone: 07496 647173 Email: jadewesttherapy@gmail.com
