The Distant Parent
Some of the hardest parent relationships to name are the ones that look fine from the outside. Whitney breaks down the distant parent-child relationship - what defines it, what it feels like to grow u...
28 Apr 18min
The Perpetually Estranged Parent
In this episode, Whitney draws together hundreds of emails, letters, and social media interactions to create a profile of a specific type of parent she calls the perpetually estranged parent.Whitney G...
21 Apr 28min
Life After Estrangement: Grief, Doubt, and Building What's Next
So you made the decision to leave a harmful family relationship. And you're wondering why it still feels so complicated. In this episode, Whitney walks through why the grief shows up at the strangest ...
14 Apr 23min
Therapists React to Shameless and What the Show Gets Right About Parentification
Whitney is joined by therapist Emma Mahony to break down one of the most unflinching portrayals of a parentified child on television: Fiona Gallagher from Shameless. Through neglect, addiction, manipu...
7 Apr 49min
Choosing Not to Reconcile with a Family Member
Not every relationship can be repaired, and not every relationship should be. In this episode, Whitney validates the decision to walk away from a family relationship for good and gives you the languag...
31 Mar 25min
Therapists React to Succession and What the Show Gets Right About Narcissistic Parents
Whitney is joined by therapist Stephanie Lindeman to break down the Roy family from the HBO Max show Succession. Succession is one of the most psychologically precise portrayals of a narcissistic patr...
24 Mar 55min
When Your Parent Denies Your Memories
When you bring up a painful memory and your parents say it never happened, it can feel like you're losing your mind. Whitney explains the science behind why parents and children encode the same events...
17 Mar 18min
"I'm Glad My Mom Died" By Jeanette McCurdy, Emotionally Immature Moms, Boundary-Ignoring Gifts
Whitney breaks down Jeanette McCurdy's interview on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy. She discusses enmeshment, parentification and the painful process of accepting that a parent was abusive. Then she ans...
10 Mar 28min
