I know from experience and from treating others that it is essential to try all of these options.

Cordial contact

The first step tosetting limits on these toxic relationshipsis the option ofcordial contact.

Through this option, wefake it till we make itwhen in the presence of our toxic family members.

Sherrie Campbell, Ph.D.

With cordial contact, we are mindful not to be too self-revealing.

Cordial contact can work, at least in the short term.

Low contact

Another option is initiating a relationship oflow contactwith our toxic family members.

Outside of this, we do all we can to avoid them.

The bottom line is this.

For this reason, the middle ground is the worst place to be with our toxic family members.

They have no idea how to function in that arena.

They prefer to be all in or all out.

We must never feel guilty for protecting ourselves with the no-contact option.

We have every right to protect ourselves from those who manipulate and emotionally abuse us.

At one point we loved our toxic family members and wanted them in our lives more than anything else.

However, our toxic family members are just people and not always healthy people.

We are conditioned to believe that if we end relationships with them, we are bad people.

No one wants to feel that they are inherently bad.

Nevertheless, here is what I know for sure.

What you have to be prepared for is the response of your toxic family members.

Just let it happen and let it pass.

We must be OK with this, embracing it as an acceptable loss.

In some ways this is a blind journey, to be sure.

We cannot predict all that will happen.