What to Do When Your Loved One Shuts Down

 Have you ever poured your heart into loving someone only to discover they don't feel loved at all? This happens frequently in LGBTQ+ families where parents think they're being supportive, but their child feels misunderstood or invalidated. When someone you care about shuts down completely, your instinct might be to defend how much you've done for them. Instead, there are four specific strategies that can help draw people out of emotional withdrawal and back into connection. These tools work whether someone has gone silent or they are lashing out. These approaches can help each of us repair damaged relationships and open up real conversations that currently seem impossible.