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Relationships in the digital age

Peg Streep

Unloved Daughters and the Question of Motherhood

Whether to become a parent is a choice but for those with difficult or toxic childhood experiences, the considerations are different.

The Narcissist and His Lies: How They're Different

The hardest part of recovering from a run-in with a narcissist is realizing nothing was what it seemed.

6 Ways Unloved Daughters Self-Sabotage (and How to Stop)

The ways in which a daughter is affected by a mother who doesn't meet her emotional needs are complicated. Here's a guide to some of the effects you may not yet see.

Feel Like a Fake or a Fraud? You're Not Alone

Do you worry that one day you'll be found out or uncovered as someone who's a fake? That all you've achieved is just a fluke? Did you know that your anxiety has a name?

The Lifelong Emotional Toll of an Unloving Father

One reader confided that her father scared her. Another that his father made him feel small and insignificant. What happens when a father is toxic?

Unloved Daughters: 6 Predictable Roadblocks to Healing

Anticipating the difficulties of healing can help you recover and reclaim your life with less stress.

10 Things Anyone Separating from a Toxic Mother Can Expect

The approach of Mother's Day can highlight problems, and many daughters struggle either with managing a continuing relationship or considering estrangement.

9 Signs That a Relationship Can't Be Saved

Giving up on a marriage is hard stuff. How can you be sure that divorce is the right option? There are signals that you need to know.

Why Daughters of Unloving Mothers Struggle to Find a Partner

Shutting the door on childhood and its effects on your adult self is easier said than done. A close look at why intimacy is so often elusive for the daughter of an unloving mother.

The Unloved Daughter and Her Uneasy Relationship to Her Body

When a daughter's emotional needs aren't met by her mother, it's not uncommon for her body to become a battleground, starting in childhood and extending through her adulthood.

Stop Pretending You Know What an Abuser Looks Like

The first question society asks, when hearing of abuse, is "why didn't she/he just leave?" It's a question that betrays how little we know about the cycle of abuse.

5 Red Flags Partners Should Never Ignore

In retrospect, it's often easy to see why a relationship or marriage failed. But there are signs along the way that experts know, and you should too...

How to Get Your Stuff Back After a Narcissist Steals It

The end of any relationship can be painful but recovering from one with someone high in narcissistic traits is especially trying. Some pointers on how to look past the devastation.

Healing From a Toxic Childhood? The Two Words You Need Most

The culture thinks that persisting is hard and requires grit, while quitting is easy. The truth may surprise you, especially when it comes to toxic relationships.

Tackling Self-Blame and Self-Criticism: 5 Strategies to Try

Do you believe that when things go wrong, someone has to take the fall, and that person should be you? Do you think people are capable of changing their reactions?

Five Things an Unloving Mother Never Does

Healing from childhood can be elusive unless we focus on both what happened in the home and what didn't.

4 Steps to Healing After Cutting a Parent Out of Your Life

Deciding to cut a parent out of your life is a huge decision, which can bring with it some unwanted baggage rather than the expected freedom and relief.

Unloved Daughters and Holiday Triggers: Seven Ways to Cope

All families have their squabbles and tensions, but when your family of origin is toxic and dysfunctional, the holidays are really hard. But you're not powerless.

The Problem with Unloved Daughters' Embrace of Fantasy

What helps you escape from an unhappy childhood — the power of your imagination — may get in the way of your recovery in adulthood.

6 Things Daughters of Unloving Parents Need to Unlearn

Our culture tells us to stop whining about childhood and to "move on." But we'll keep repeating the patterns of the past if we can't see them.

How Narcissistic Parents Scapegoat Their Children

While it seems counterintuitive, scapegoating makes a mother believe that her dysfunctional family is actually healthy and stable, and bullying tends to solidify bonding.

Is Your Mother Narcissistic or Controlling?

It's true that children whose emotional needs weren't met by their mothers share common ground, but there are still important differences that affect individual development.

Five Reasons You Have to Stop Excusing Verbal Abuse

It took widely publicized teen suicides to open our eyes to the fact that bullying wasn't a normal passage in childhood. When will the culture do the same for verbal abuse?

When Your Boss Is a Bully or Worse: What Can You Do?

Our working lives take up a lot of time and, sometimes, emotional space. What to do when your work is wrecking your state of mind?

The Psychology of Revenge (and Vengeful People)

Is revenge really sweet? And what makes people vengeful? Does playing tit for tat make you feel better? Or not? The science of revenge.

Why Daughters of Unloving Mothers Struggle With Shame

Shame plays many roles in an unloved daughter's life, especially on the road to recovery when the cultural notion of filial obligation becomes yet another obstacle.

The Trophy Child

One of the most cherished myths about motherhood is that mothers love each child equally. Research comes up with a very different answer. A close look at why favoritism matters.

Unloved Daughters and the One Question You Must Stop Asking

It's the question that every daughter of an unloving mother wants answered but it's really a blind alley.

The Psychology of Watching April the Giraffe

What has so many people totally obsessed with a pregnant giraffe? Why can't they look away from April?

Daughters of Unloving Mothers: Mourning the Mom You Deserved

Recovering from a pain-filled and difficult childhood is a long journey for most but there's one step that's often overlooked or ignored: Grieving for the mother you didn't have.

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