Until the last decade or so, the topic of estrangement in families has been grossly unacknowledged and underinvestigated. Some data suggest that as many as one in four people are estranged from at least one family member—yet, despite this high incidence, few studies have examined the complicated roots and consequences of estrangement, especially sibling cutoffs.

The entire area of sibling relationships has been largely ignored by psychological researchers since the field came into being more than a century ago. Even Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, makes just five references to the sibling relationship in his two dozen volumes of work. Only during the past two decades have researchers conducted meaningful studies on how siblings shape one another’s lives.

A major reason for the paucity of studies examining family estrangement is the shame and humiliation that often accompany a breakdown in a relationship with an important family member. These nearly universal emotions make it challenging to........

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