by Sabine Krummel

About the author: Sabine Krummel is the director of family services at ARC Otsego, in Oneonta, New York. She has received specialized training in medical family therapy, experiential family therapy, and working with the elderly.

In the past three years things have gotten steadily worse. My daughter locked me in the garage and left me there. . . . Whenever I tried to cook a meal, she would appear and turn off the gas and remove the grills so that the only way I could cook was to hold the pan over the fire. . . . My daughter’s treatment of me kept getting worse. Always hurting me physically and mentally, kicking me, pushing me, grappling with me. . . . She is a well-educated person.

—voice of an elderly woman

The thing that bothered me most about my...