Overcoming Your Difficult Family: 8 Skills for Thriving in Any Family Situation

When you encounter difficult people in your daily life, the easiest solution is to cut and run. But when the difficult people in question are your parents, siblings, children, or all of the above, you can’t always end the relationships. What happens when you’re stuck with people who don’t respect boundaries or listen to reason? Author Eric Maisel, a licensed family therapist and life coach, tackles this awkward question in his new book Overcoming Your Difficult Family, providing answers gleaned from his own therapy practice. The first half of the book lists eight strategies for dealing with difficult relatives, whereas the second half acts as a kind of “field guide” to common types of dysfunctional families — authoritarian families, factionalized families, drug-addicted families, and more. By following Maisel’s battle-tested advice, you’ll learn to maintain inner peace in the midst of family chaos, and in the process, make everyone’s life a little better.