An emotionally immature parent lacks the emotional responsiveness necessary to meet their children’s emotional needs. While they may often appear competent and provide for their child's physical needs, they are often self-occupied and limited in empathy that they cannot engage emotionally with their children.

Here is a short list of common experiences:

• You felt responsible for their feelings

• You felt emotionally lonely growing up

• You feel guilty for bringing up your needs

• They don't respect your boundaries or individuality

• You feel guilty

• You constantly feel like you have to take care of others

• You have difficulty trusting your instincts

• You lack self-confidence

Therapy can be a place to finally understand the painful childhood you grew up in and provide language for what happened in the past and what's going currently.

Action steps towards healing can include:

• learning how to set and maintain boundaries that work for you

• learning to trust your inner world

• building up your self-confidence and self-esteem

• learning how to take appropriate responsibility