Coping with Family Stress: How to Deal with Difficult Relatives

You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family. We all have disagreements with relatives, but for some, family can persist into adulthood as a major source of stress. Family stress is more than the tense atmosphere at the annual Christmas gathering. It can be seen as the kind of stress we may all experience from the dynamics of being an adult within a wider family unit.

This may mean coping with adults within the family system who are disruptive and dysfunctional, and who cause stress by their behaviour; outgrown roles and stereotypes established in childhood; or old rivalries, as well as current issues such as dealing with the family business or caring for an ageing parent.

This book looks at how you can live at peace with siblings and parents in adult life. Topics include:

• How the family evolved
• What constitutes family stress and how we perceive it
• Family myths and stories
• Family businesses
• Deaths, funerals and wills
• Christmas, holidays, weekends
• Dealing with difficult and extra-difficult family members
• Re-building trust and family relationships
• Your social support system
• Lifestyle and stress management advice.

©2007 Sheldon Press (P)2011 Summersdale Publishers Ltd