The Unseen Horizon: A Women’s Day psychology perspective on emotional neglect

This Women’s Day, The Unseen Horizon warmly invites every woman to look beyond surface appearances — breaking silence, sharing stories and uncovering what has long been hidden.

Imagine life as a secret garden, where roots grow deep beneath the soil, shaping everything we see above. We ask: What if understanding those roots — the unseen pain and resilience — is the key to our mental health healing?

These are deep wounds passed down through generations, too often ignored or misunderstood. If we, as women, fail to see these threads, are we merely treating symptoms rather than causes?

The Unseen Horizon is more than just a metaphor — it is a mental space where women’s untold stories come into light. It is where generational truths and emotional realities meet. Across centuries, women have carried the weight of emotional neglect in silence — praised for their endurance but rarely seen for their emotional deprivation.

In many cultures, women were conditioned to suppress their emotional needs, expected to serve as caregivers, nurturers and peacekeepers without question. Their pain was invisible, their voices dismissed and their well-being often placed second.

Today, while psychological advances have been made, this generational silence still echoes in our modern lives, casting long shadows over promising futures.

Education now gives us tools to understand emotional struggles — helping us name what was once hidden and validate what was once ignored.

Emotional neglect isn’t loud or psychologically piercing. It is the quiet absence of what every little girl needs: warmth, care, and being truly seen.

For many women, this lack starts in girlhood and silently follows them into adulthood. The World Health Organization says nearly 1 in 3 women worldwide experience abuse.

But, what about the pain we can’t see? Emotional neglect leaves no bruises, yet it is one of the deepest forms of hurt — often overlooked, misunderstood and passed down through generations.

One of the most powerful concepts from behavioral medicine is radical acceptance — the idea that we must fully accept reality in order to move through pain.

This means no longer brushing emotional neglect under the rug. Instead, we must learn to identify it, name it, and offer ourselves the compassion we were once denied. As women, we are not broken — we are healing from generations of not being emotionally held. That in itself is a revolution.

Let us also consider attachment theory, which tells us that early relationships shape how we connect, love and self-soothe. If emotional attunement was missing in childhood, we might struggle with self-worth, boundaries or even emotional intimacy as adults. This is not personal failure — it is emotional inheritance. Presently, it is one we now have the power to interrupt.

What lies ahead? The first step is awareness. The next is self-reparenting — the psychological practice of giving yourself what was missing: kindness, validation and emotional safety. This is how we interrupt the cycle. This is how we rewrite the story.

Importantly, this work is not just personal — it is systemic. From healthcare to education, we need mental health strategies that account for invisible wounds. We need policies that center women’s emotional well-being, not just their survival. Given this, we need to normalise the language of emotional neglect so that future generations don’t grow up questioning whether their needs are too much.

This Women’s Day, let us convene in a different way — one where women’s emotional stories take center stage. Where trauma isn’t just something to survive, but something we transform into insight, empathy, and intergenerational healing. Where daughters no longer inherit silence but strength. Where we can say: “My history matters and so does my presence.

”The Unseen Horizon is where emotional awareness becomes our north star — helping us understand not only what we endured, but also what we deserve. As we tend to the roots of our inner gardens, with courage, we bloom into wholeness, honesty, and peace. With intention, we gently step into our truth, knowing that healing is not only possible — it’s powerful.

To all our readers: May mindful compassion activate your brain’s rhythms, lighting the way to a quantum leap in your strength and growth. Happy Women’s Day! 

*The opinions expressed in this article does not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.

DAILY NEWS