Family closeness is not universally pathological. It may reflect different cultural ways of relating.

The same family behaviour can arise from very different psychological and cultural processes.

Instead of asking "Is this enmeshment?", ask, "What system is organising this relationship?"

One of the most enduring ideas in psychotherapy is that healthy families have clear emotional boundaries. When family members become "too close," therapists often worry about enmeshment—relationships in which autonomy is blurred and individuality is compromised.

But what if the problem is not closeness itself? What if we have mistaken one cultural way of organizing relationships for a universal psychological truth?

The evidence keeps becoming more uncomfortable. For decades, Western family therapy has regarded enmeshment as a risk factor. Yet the evidence is becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile with this assumption.

An Italian study found that while enmeshment predicted poorer wellbeing in the UK, it did not carry the same psychological cost in Italy.

A more recent study of Korean immigrant families found something even more surprising: Children in more enmeshed families actually demonstrated better socioemotional functioning, particularly when families retained stronger heritage cultural values.

Meanwhile, a systematic review of Asian students living in English-speaking countries concluded that many traditional family risk factors simply did not behave as expected. Instead, eating difficulties were........

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