Emotional neglect is a much neglected (pun intended) topic, and for good reason: How can you know of something which was never there?
Emotional neglect is the relationship version of a tree falling in a forest and nobody being there to hear it. Does it make a noise?
The answer is: Yes, emotional neglect very much makes a noise, one which echoes and reverberates for an entire lifetime.
When you have been emotionally neglected, your world looks like this:
In the above image, Mario is in the Dark Land. He can only see a short distance in front of him, and what is visible seems to have been stripped of life.
This is what the person who suffered chronic emotional neglect in childhood experiences. Surrounding them is a glass bubble which makes the outer world feel foreign and untouchable.
The emotionally-neglected person feels like they cannot impact the world. They feel powerless, lifeless and inconsequential.
What exactly brings on such a tragedy?
The Life-Giving Power Of Emotional Attunement
Emotional neglect is when a child does not have their emotional state seen, acknowledged, validated and regulated.
An emotional state can vary from something as trivial as not getting ice cream, all the way to the tragedy of losing a family member. When a child is having an emotional experience ranging from rage to grief, a good enough guardian will:
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