Abstract
Religious disaffiliation of a family member from a shared family faith can have a significant impact on family relationships. Family members often experience significant amounts of loss, feelings of disconnection and disorientation, and search for reconnection across differences. In this chapter, we will describe our research on families going through these experiences and will use a case study to demonstrate ways in which therapists can help families navigate these challenging processes. Goals include helping family members cultivate insight into their own responses to disaffiliation, helping them to process their emotions around the experience, working to foster improved distress tolerance skills, and encouraging effective communication that builds connection and creates healing between members.
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Knight, A., Esmiol Wilson, E., Nice, L. (2018). Protecting Family Bonds: Examining Religious Disaffiliation Through a Spiritually Informed Family Systems Lens. In: Esmiol Wilson, E., Nice, L. (eds) Socially Just Religious and Spiritual Interventions. AFTA SpringerBriefs in Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01986-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01986-0_3
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