Dr. Sherrie Campbell: When “Toxic” Love Feels Familiar, Healing Childhood Patterns While Co-Parenting After Abuse

Besties, if you’ve ever looked back and thought, “Why did that relationship feel like home, even when it hurt?” this episode is for you. Lindsay sits down with our new BFF, Dr. Sherrie Campbell to unpack the painful truth. When you come from low-effort families, inconsistency, emotional neglect, and chaos can feel familiar. That familiarity can pull you into intimate relationships that mirror your childhood wounds.

And when the relationship ends, the impact doesn’t. We talk about co-parenting after domestic abuse, high-conflict custody, and how control can continue through communication, schedules, and court. Dr. Sherrie shares practical, trauma-aware tools to help you break the cycle, set boundaries that hold, use low-drama communication strategies, and protect your peace while staying grounded as a parent.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why “toxic” love feels familiar when you grew up in a low-effort family system
• How childhood conditioning shapes adult attachment, tolerance, and red flags
• Co-parenting after abuse, when communication becomes the new battlefield
• Parallel parenting vs. co-parenting, choosing safety and stability
• Gray rock and boundary scripts to stop feeding conflict
• Documentation and pattern tracking for family court
• Nervous system regulation when every message triggers anxiety
• Rebuilding self-trust and breaking generational cycles

About Dr. Sherrie Campbell

Dr. Sherrie Campbell is a licensed psychologist, author, and speaker focused on toxic family systems, emotional abuse recovery, and boundary work that helps people reclaim their lives.

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• Support is available through the National Domestic Violence Hotline (US) 1-800-799-SAFE

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