Also, do not use the trauma of childhood as an excuse for your adult difficulties.

Adult children may neglect themselves and their own health. Sensitive to the needs of others, they have difficulty taking time for themselves. There is an old saying: “If you do not take time to be well, you will take time to be sick.” By encouraging your partner to eat healthy foods, take time out to exercise, and get regular checkups from the

“What little love was available was conditional. Both of our parents received gratification from my brother’s football and my cheerleading.

The correct approach is for the patient to recognize the childhood losses, accept that things will never be the way she or he wished in childhood, and mourn the absence of a different emotional relationship with her or his parents.

As we have mentioned previously, the behavioral patterns exhibited by adult children need to be recognized and addressed by caregivers when medications are prescribed. If they are not, ACOAs will likely become anxious and think they are experiencing a “reaction” to the medicine that is actually their anxiety about losing control and their

Once your adult child feels secure in his or her present life with you, he or she can then review childhood experiences from the perspective of a safe, loving relationship in the present.

Sports psychologists have learned that whenever a person is emotional, that particular experience tends to be retained in their muscle memory. As a result they advise golfers to become emotional about the good shots but to remain calm and objective about the bad ones (most of us do just the opposite). This is good advice for life. Get excited about

Therefore, suggest that your partner take in positive messages—through reading, listening to recordings, and watching videos—so she or he can shift thoughts in a more positive direction. Many adult children find it helpful to read and listen to positive affirmations each day.

Note that your partnership is the start of a loving family.