Therapy for Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

Break the Cycle. Reclaim Your Peace. Reconnect With You.

Growing up with an emotionally immature parent doesn’t always leave obvious scars, but the emotional wounds run deep.

Maybe they weren’t abusive, but they were absent. Maybe they weren’t cruel, but they were unpredictable, dismissive, or completely absorbed in their own needs. You may have spent your childhood trying to earn their love, avoid their outbursts, or make yourself small enough to keep the peace. As an adult, that can look like perfectionism, people-pleasing, chronic guilt, and never really knowing where you end and your parent begins.

If you're constantly over-functioning, struggling with boundaries, or still hoping they’ll finally become the parent you always needed, you’re not alone. And you’re not broken. You’re just carrying the emotional residue of a childhood spent managing someone else’s immaturity.

At Bianca VonBank Therapy, I specialize in helping adult children of emotionally immature parents heal the pain of the past and create a life rooted in clarity, self-trust, and emotional freedom.

Emotionally immature parents are often inconsistent, self-centered, reactive, or emotionally unavailable. They may have lacked empathy, failed to validate your feelings, or expected you to manage their emotions instead of helping you understand your own.

They might:

• Become defensive or victimized when confronted

• Dismiss your feelings or needs as “too much”

• Flip between enmeshment and rejection

• Require constant emotional caretaking

• Refuse to acknowledge or take accountability for past harm

These parents often remain stuck in their own unhealed trauma and instead of protecting you, they made you responsible for their emotional regulation.

Signs You May Be Struggling With the Impact of an Emotionally Immature Parent

• You feel responsible for other people’s emotions and happiness

• You fear conflict and go to great lengths to avoid it

• You struggle to say no, even when it costs your well-being

• You feel guilty or anxious for setting boundaries

• You second-guess your decisions and doubt your inner voice

• You often feel emotionally exhausted after talking to your parent

• You carry unprocessed anger, grief, or longing from childhood

• Your relationships mirror the chaos or one-sidedness of your family

• You feel stuck in patterns of people-pleasing or perfectionism

• You don’t feel fully seen, known, or understood in your family

• You wonder if you’re “too sensitive” or “the problem”

How Therapy Can Help You Heal From an Emotionally Immature Parent

You’ve spent years adapting to someone else’s emotional limitations. Therapy gives you a space to reconnect with your own.

At Bianca VonBank Therapy, I offer a safe, judgment-free environment where you can unpack your family dynamics, process complex emotions, and rebuild the parts of yourself that have been ignored, minimized, or silenced.

In our work together, you’ll:

Gain Emotional Clarity
Understand how your upbringing has shaped your patterns, relationships, and inner narrative. Release the guilt, shame, and self-blame you’ve been carrying for too long.

Develop Healthy Boundaries
Learn how to protect your time, energy, and emotional space without guilt or fear and create space for healthier, more balanced relationships.

Rebuild Self-Worth
Move from perfectionism and self-doubt to self-acceptance and confidence. Learn how to validate yourself rather than chasing external approval.

Learn to Navigate Family Dynamics
You don’t have to cut off contact to heal, but you do need a strategy. Whether you're in contact or going low/no-contact, I’ll help you set boundaries that protect your peace and preserve your power.

Build Emotional Resilience
Use evidence-based approaches like CBT and DBT to regulate emotions, manage stress, and stay grounded when old wounds get triggered.

Reconnect With Your True Self
Let go of roles like fixer, caretaker, or peacemaker, and connect with who you are outside of your parent’s expectations.

My Approach to Therapy for Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

With over a decade of experience, I’ve helped countless women untangle themselves from the emotional chaos of their upbringing and finally find peace.

My approach is collaborative, warm, and deeply attuned. I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help rewire unhelpful thought patterns, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to strengthen emotional regulation and boundary-setting, and relational techniques to explore deeper wounds and rewrite old narratives.

I’m also direct, validating, and use a touch of humor where appropriate because let’s be honest, sometimes you just need to laugh about the dysfunction to get through it.

This work is about reclaiming your life, your voice, and your emotional freedom. And you don’t have to do it alone.

You Can Heal — Without Waiting for Them to Change

Your parent may never become who you needed them to be. But you can become who you need now.

You can stop bending yourself into shapes to keep the peace. You can stop shrinking, over-functioning, or feeling responsible for everyone else’s emotions. And you can build a life where you feel emotionally safe, empowered, and fully yourself.

Therapy for adult children of emotionally immature parents in New York and Florida online is available now.

Ready to Begin?

Let’s work together to help you set boundaries, reclaim your voice, and build the kind of life and relationships you deserve.

Book your consultation today and take the first step toward freedom, clarity, and healing.