Family Troubles with Dr. Joshua Coleman

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with internationally renowned psychoanalyst and author Dr. Galit Atlas to talk about her new book, Come Closer: Childhood Wounds, Adult Love, and the Secrets of Emotional Intimacy. Dr. Atlas explores how the survival strategies we developed as children can become patterns we unconsciously repeat in our adult relationships and why understanding those p...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with author Noelle Mering to talk about her new book No Contact , and the cultural forces shaping the rise of family estrangement. Noelle explores how changing ideas about identity, autonomy, obligation, mental health, and personal fulfillment can influence the way we understand conflict with the people closest to us. We talk about the difference betw...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Emmy-nominated comedian, actor, writer, and Billy on the Street creator Billy Eichner to talk about his parents, coming out, grief, creativity, resilience, and the lasting power of unconditional love. His new audio memoir, Billy on Billy , reflects on his childhood, his long road to success, and the parents he credits with helping him become full...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Valerie Galinskaya, Managing Director and Head of the Merrill Center for Family Wealth, to talk about wealth, inheritance, adult children, family communication, and the emotional complexity that can come with financial planning. Valerie and her team work with families navigating some of life’s most important financial decisions, but as she explai...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Stephanie Coontz, Director of Research and Public Education for the Council on Contemporary Families and emeritus faculty of History and Family Studies at The Evergreen State College. Stephanie is one of the most influential historians of marriage, gender, and family life, and her work has helped reshape how we understand the myths and realities...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Celia Flinn, a school-based therapist in the Bay Area who brings both clinical insight and lived experience to the topic of sibling estrangement. Celia shares what happened when her sibling became estranged from her parents, how that changed her role in the family, and what it felt like to become the child who stayed. We talk about the often over...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Alphonso James, a speaker, advocate, author, and exoneree who spent 32 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. At 17 years old, Alphonso was wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, but his story is not only about injustice. It is also about resilience, forgiveness, faith, and the difficult inner work of becoming...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Sasha Ayad, M.Ed., LPC, a Licensed Professional Counselor who has worked with adolescents for over 19 years and focuses on teens and young adults struggling with gender dysphoria and gender identity. Sasha and I discuss the complicated intersection of gender identity, therapy, adolescence, culture, and family estrangement. We explore why some par...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Lindsey and Leslie Glass, a mother-daughter author and advocacy duo, co-founders of Reach Out Recovery, and authors of The Mother-Daughter Relationship Makeover, to talk about addiction, recovery, estrangement, and what it can take for mothers and daughters to find their way back to one another. Lindsey and Leslie bring both personal experience a...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Dr. Darcy Sterling, a NYC-based Licensed Clinical Social Worker, relationship expert, and host of E! Network’s Famously Single, to talk about what it means to date while estranged from a parent, adult child, sibling, or other family member. Estrangement can be painful enough on its own. But when you’re beginning a new romantic relationship, it ca...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with developmental psychologist and family relationship researcher Professor Lucy Blake, whose work has helped shape our understanding of family estrangement, sibling relationships, and family dynamics across the lifespan. We explore why family relationships are often more complicated than the idealized versions we see in culture and social media, and...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Historian and University of Texas Professor, Steven Mintz to explore the challenges of modern parenting, family dynamics, and building resilience in children and adults alike. Steven shares his expertise on how family relationships evolve, the pressures parents face today, and strategies to create healthier, more connected households. We dive int...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Tania Khazaal for a thoughtful and candid conversation about family estrangement, emotional healing, and what it really means to move forward without losing ourselves or the people we love. Tania shares her personal story of cutting off contact with her mother, what brought her back, and how changing the way she understood her mother’s story chan...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with Professor Judith R. Smith to discuss her book, Difficult: Mothering Challenging Adult Children Through Conflict and Change. Drawing from years of research and interviews, Judith explores what it means to parent an adult child struggling with mental illness, addiction, unemployment, estrangement, and ongoing instability. We talk about the emotiona...

In this episode of Family Troubles , I sit down with Michelle Weiner-Davis to unpack something I see far too often, how divorce can quietly evolve into long-term family estrangement. We explore how these fractures don’t just impact couples, but ripple through entire families, sometimes for decades. We also get into the role of therapy, communication, and personal narratives in shaping these outcom...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with journalist and author Mark Pendergrast to unpack one of the most complex and sensitive issues I see in my work: memory. We explore how memories are formed, how they can shift over time, and how certain therapeutic approaches have contributed to deeply painful family estrangements. Mark shares both his research and his personal story of losing con...

In this episode of Family Troubles, I sit down with renowned family therapist and sociologist Pauline Boss to explore her groundbreaking concept of ambiguous loss and its powerful relevance to family estrangement. We discuss why some of the most painful losses are the hardest to define and how learning to live with that uncertainty can open the door to healing. We also challenge the cultural myth...

In this episode of Family Troubles , I sit down with Frank Furstenberg, one of the most influential sociologists of family life, to unpack how modern families are evolving and why parenting today feels harder than ever. We explore how rising inequality, shifting expectations, and longer paths to adulthood are reshaping the bond between parents and children in ways that are both deeply meaningful a...

On this first episode of Family Troubles , I sit down with Nedra Glover Tawwab, a licensed therapist, relationship expert, and bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace . Nedra has helped millions through her books, social media, and clinical work, and is widely known for making boundaries practical and accessible in everyday life. We talk about family estrangement, setting boundaries with...

In this episode of Family Troubles , I sit down with Ruth Whippman, author of BoyMom and America the Anxious , to talk about the pressure modern parents face and how it’s shaping our kids. Ruth brings a cultural lens to parenting and shares how the drive to optimize our children can quietly strain the parent-child relationship. We get into how this pressure shows up in real life, from constant mon...

In this episode of Family Troubles , I sit down with Kristina Scharp, an associate professor at Rutgers University and director of the Family Communication and Relationships Lab. Kristina is one of the leading researchers on family estrangement, and we get into what really drives family distance and how people cope with it. We talk about how estrangement and alienation are often misunderstood, and...