Healing Words: The Role of Parent-Child Communication in Emotional Well-Being and Trauma Recovery

Abstract

Parent-child communication plays an important role in children’s emotional well-being, psychological resilience, and capacity to cope with difficult and traumatic experiences. This conceptual, literature-based study examines how empathetic, attentive, and non-judgmental communication can support children’s emotional development and recovery, with particular attention to the principles of Carl Rogers’ humanistic approach. Drawing on scholarship in Rogerian theory, attachment, developmental psychology, psychological resilience, trauma recovery, and parent-child communication, the study critically examines the relationships among empathy, active listening, emotional validation, unconditional positive regard, emotional regulation, and resilience. It further considers the relevance of these principles to trauma recovery, while distinguishing everyday parent-child communication from formal client-centred psychotherapy and evidence-based trauma interventions such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). The study also examines the cultural dimensions of applying Rogerian communication principles, particularly in South Asian and broader Global South contexts where parenting practices may reflect interdependence, parental authority, collective family values, and culturally specific forms of emotional expression. The study argues that Rogerian principles can provide a useful conceptual framework for understanding supportive parent-child communication when they are adapted sensitively to cultural and situational contexts. Rather than claiming causal effectiveness, the study offers a theoretically informed synthesis of existing literature and highlights the potential of empathetic communication to contribute to emotional security, adaptive coping, psychological resilience, and supportive trauma recovery.