When Eamon Dolan found out his mother died, he called his sister, Gerry.

"Gerry said 'Ding dong the witch is dead' and we laughed," Dolan, who is an editor and author of the new book "The Power of Parting," tells CNBC Make It.

Dolan hadn't spoken to his mother in seven years by the time she passed. After enduring decades of physical and emotional abuse, he decided to stop seeing or speaking with her.

Dolan is part of a growing population of adults who have gone no-contact with a family member. More than one in four, 29%, of Americans are estranged from an immediate family member, according to a 2022 YouGov poll of 11,000 people.

The shift could be indicative of a generational divide: 70% of adults age 65 and older say family relationships are the most important type of relationship. Only 50% of adults 30 and younger say the same.

The proliferation of conversations around boundaries and toxicity also stripped estrangement of its long-held stigma, says Thema Bryant, a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University and former president of the American Psychological Association.

"I think there is an increase in acceptance of [estrangement] as an option," Bryant says. "I think, historically, it was more rare and more frowned upon. There is not only an increase in it happening but also a readiness to speak about it whereas previously when people talked about it, it would maybe be with their closest friends."

Social media 'reduced to the sense of isolation that people who are estranged feel'

Socially and medically estrangement isn't wholly accepted, Dolan says.

"There are so many forces in society that conspire to make us think that we owe our relatives some kind of special duty that we don't owe any other humans," Dolan says.

Telling colleagues that he isn't spending the holidays with his family or hasn't shared exciting milestones with his parents always felt awkward. Mental health professionals also tend to stress the importance of familial relationships.

"Psychology and psychiatry [experts], historically, have been awful about estrangement," he says. "They have really been prejudiced in favor of reconciliation at all costs."

In recent years, Dolan has noticed some of those stigmas dissolving.

"One of the few unquestionably positive things about social media is that it's reduced the sense of isolation that people who are estranged feel because you put something on TikTok or Instagram with the #NoContact or #LowContact and you'll get some love," Dolan says.

'For some people [the damage] gets minimized'

If you ever feel physically unsafe, going no-contact with a relative might make sense for you, Bryant says. Emotional abuse, too, often gets downplayed but can have severe effects.

"With emotional abuse, some people take the perspective that if [a family member] is calling you names or putting you down that people are supposed to forgive and endure that, so for some people [the damage] gets minimized," Bryant says.

If a relative repeatedly asks for or steals money, something Bryant calls "financial abuse," it might be time to reassess your boundaries.

To know if estrangement makes sense for you, Bryant suggests asking yourself a few questions:

• Does the person express any remorse?
• Do they apologize but keep repeating the behaviors, or are you seeing them make efforts to get better?
• Do they express that they have an understanding or appreciation for the fact that the behavior was harmful?

You can also limit exposure to relatives, as opposed to going no-contact, as a way to protect your health. Just be sure to communicate that boundary to your family members.

"You may say, 'I'm willing to come to this family event, but I cannot be seated next to this person,'" Bryant says. "'I'm willing to come, but they need to not say anything to me or to my children.""

'There are times when we can repair and have clarity'

While doing what feels safe is always best, sometimes conflict avoidant people tend to cut others off too quickly. This happens often with sibling disputes, Bryant says.

"It's understandable if you avoid conflict if you come from a violent family," she says. "But there are times when we can repair and have clarity. Sometimes we are assuming that people know what bothered us and sometimes there's not even an agreement or full understanding of the facts."

Having a conversation, even if it doesn't end in resolution, can result in your feeling heard.

"If it is not an issue of your bodily safety or integrity, sometimes a conversation can help," Bryant says. "Even if you get to the end of the conversation and decide, 'I still want to take space. I expressed myself to you and you still refuse to hear it' you can have peace that you gave them the opportunity to make a different choice and then they didn't."

Before going no-contact with his mother, Dolan attempted to implement some rules, one of which was that she could not say "cruel" things to him on the phone. During one mundane phone call, he had his "aha!" moment.

Dolan doesn't remember which comment led to his epiphany, but he does remember the conversation, because it's the last one he had with his mother.

"I said, 'You know you can't say anything cruel or mean when you're talking to me,' and she said, 'I suppose I have to watch every word I say to you,'" he says. "I said 'Actually you have to watch every word you say that everybody. That's what good people do and you're not a good person. We're done. Goodbye.' Then I hung up the phone."

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