Emotionally Unavailable Parents Test

Emotionally unavailable parents can have a profound impact on a child’s development and well-being. As a child grows into adulthood, they may exhibit signs of an inability to healthily attach, regulate emotions, and form meaningful relationships. While the reasons behind a parent’s unavailability can vary greatly, the effects tend to be similar.

If you suspect you may have grown up with an emotionally unavailable parent, taking an assessment can help validate your experiences and identify areas for growth. Below are some key things to look out for when evaluating your parents’ emotional availability.

Do they meet your emotional needs?

One of the hallmarks of an emotionally unavailable parent is the inability to attune to a child’s emotional needs. Thinking back to your childhood, consider the following questions:

Did your parent(s):

• Comfort you when you were upset?
• Validate your feelings and let you know they cared?
• Make themselves emotionally available to talk through issues?
• Express interest in your inner emotional world?

Or did they tend to:

• Dismiss or ignore your feelings?
• Become angry or defensive when you expressed emotions?
• Struggle to emotionally bond?
• Lack empathy, warmth, and nurturance?

If your parents did not make your emotional needs a priority or struggled to connect with you on an emotional level, this suggests emotional unavailability.

Do they take interest in your life?

Along with meeting emotional needs, an invested, attuned parent will take active interest in their child’s daily life. Reflect on whether your parent(s):

Did they:

• Ask questions about your friends, interests, school life?
• Remember important events and acknowledge milestones?
• Initiate and engage in conversations about your life?

Or did they:

• Seem indifferent to the details of your life?
• Forget important events or dates?
• Rarely inquire about your interests or friends?
• Make minimal effort to engage in dialogue?

A lack of curiosity or investment in your daily joys and challenges indicates emotional distance.

Do they share about themselves?

Vulnerability fosters intimacy in relationships. Consider whether your parent(s):

Did they:

• Confide in you about their own struggles?
• Allow themselves to be real, share flaws, and remove the facade?
• Open up about their inner emotional landscape?

Or did they:

• Keep conversations superficial and focused only on you?
• Maintain an aloof, distant persona?
• Seem mysterious, rarely letting you in?

An imbalance where you confide in them but they withhold about themselves can signal emotional guardedness.

Could you count on them in difficult times?

The true mark of a supportive, attuned parent is one who shows up in the hard times. Reflect on how your parent(s) responded:

Did they:

• Make themselves available when you were struggling with something difficult?
• Listen openly and compassionately?
• Provide truly helpful advice or relief?

Or did they:

• Struggle to handle you in crisis mode?
• Become impatient, explosive, or unavailable?
• Offer platitudes versus meaningful support?

A parent’s capacity to be emotionally present during turmoil indicates their availability.

Do you share real intimacy?

Intimacy goes beyond just sharing facts and small talk. Consider:

Could you:

• Share openly about big feelings – anger, grief, passion?
• Be emotionally vulnerable and trust them with your whole self?
• Feel deeply known and understood?

Or did interactions feel:

• Polite but guarded?
• Focused only on surface-level check-ins?
• Like key parts of you were blocked off or misunderstood?

True intimacy involves letting one’s full authentic self be seen and accepted.

If many checked boxes indicate emotional distance, guardedness, or lack of attunement from one or both parents, you likely endured emotional neglect or unavailability growing up. The good news is you can begin to heal by mapping out these patterns from the past.

Effects of an emotionally unavailable parent

Unfortunately, growing up with a closed-off or unavailable parent sets children up for a myriad of struggles that can ripple into adulthood:

Emotional Fallout

• Difficulty identifying and regulating feelings
• Inner critic or negative self-talk
• Mood disorders like chronic anxiety or depression
• Anger, sadness, or grief about the lack of nurturance

Social Struggles

• Codependency or people pleasing tendencies
• Fear of vulnerability or letting others in
• Difficulty setting boundaries
• Repeating dysfunctional relationship patterns

Lost Potential

• Disconnection from one’s true self and inner compass
• Lack of self-confidence and belief in innate gifts
• Abandoning one’s dreams or talents

The pain of emotional neglect can thus cramp one’s ability to thrive across all life domains.

While an unavailable parent caused great suffering, there are powerful tools available for healing. By better understanding emotional neglect patterns and learning new relational habits, you can transform your inner and outer worlds.

Steps toward healing

If you endured childhood emotional neglect (CEN), you deserve to rebuild your sense of self-worth and capacity for intimacy. With patience and skilled support, lasting change is possible over time:

1. Validate your experience

The first step in healing involves fully acknowledging the depth of your painful past through:

• Journaling
• Speaking to a therapist
• Joining online forums about CEN

Opening your heart to past wounds without self-blame is crucial for releasing what was pent up.

2. Retrain your inner voice

Many children internalize the lack of nurturance as their fault, carrying shame and persistent negative self-talk into adulthood. Retraining this inner voice involves:

• Noticing self-judgment and challenging beliefs with gentler alternatives
• Practicing mindful self-talk to replace criticism with compassion

You can also visualize your child self and offer the nurturance he/she deserved.

3. Identify relationship patterns

Children often subconsciously repeat painful dynamics from their family of origin. Becoming conscious of unhealthy patterns like:

• People pleasing
• Poor boundaries
• Attracting emotionally immature partners

Allows you to catch and shift them.

4. Release blocked emotions

Emotional suppression freezes you from your true vibrant self. Release and express is key:

• Access anger, sadness through movement therapy like dance
• Practice authentic emotional sharing with safe friends/partners
• Use art, music, writing to unlock emotional floodgates

5. Learn secure attachment habits

While CEN encodes insecure, vigilant attachment habits, you can heal through:

• Mindfulness practices to stay grounded in the present
• Emotionally attuned support groups
• Conscious intimacy exercises with trusted partners

As we release old relational wounds, we attract healthier connections.

The pain of growing up with an emotionally unavailable parent runs deep and often unconsciously shapes our lives. Yet with courage and the right support, you can rewrite old patterns and unlock your fullest potential for joy, creativity, and intimate bonds. You deserve to live free from the weight of childhood emotional neglect – and that freedom is within your reach.

Remember, you are never alone. There are many talented therapists and support communities ready to witness your experience and help guide you towards the light of self-actualization.

The first step is a raw, vulnerable look at the past so you can walk boldly into a new future, unencumbered by old stories that falsely defined you.

Shedding society’s emotional straight jacket to live from your soul’s true colors requires patience, friends. But my god it’s worth it.