I went through a couple of periods where i distanced myself almost completely from my family. Our only contact was an occasional email between myself and my father.

I really can't say if it helped at all or not. It may have helped me to let go of old patterns, so that now I don't "bite" when one of them tries to provoke me. Family relationships can be like a merry-go-round and sometimes you gotta get off before you can look inside you and see what is really going on so you can change whatever it is that needs to change, if anything.

Maybe you can't decide what to do because you aren't ready to cut the ties yet. Can you minimize your contact and see if this helps, first, before you cut them out altogether?

--Ceara1010