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Relationships in the digital age

Peg Streep

The Accidental Birders: Saving Our Sanity in a Pandemic

Getting by during stressful times takes a bit of ingenuity but a psychological boost from some feathered friends and devoted birders made it so much easier.

Using Journaling to Mute the Critical Tape in Your Head

Writing can be a powerful tool for dealing with the effects of childhood experiences, as science knows. But it's important that you do it right.

The Many Disguises of Verbal Abuse

Why is it that the culture often dismisses the damage caused by verbal abuse? A look at some wrong-headed ideas and why we need to pay attention to the power of words.

Trying to Manage Your Toxic Family? What You Need to Know

While every dysfunctional family is unique, there are nonetheless broad patterns that can help adult children of toxic parents navigate the course.

Why Intimate Relationships Are So Challenging for Unloved Daughters

What we learn about love in childhood affects the trajectory of our adult relationships. For those whose emotional needs weren't met, the road can be difficult.

Toxic Childhood and the 5 Habits of Mind That Keep You Stuck

Why is it that so many of us have trouble leaving relationships and situations that are no longer working for us or that make us actively unhappy? Here are five reasons.

Is Rejection Sensitivity Hacking Your Relationships?

We're all sensitive to rejection, but people who are always vigilant and on the lookout for pain and disappointment are more likely to find it.

Unloved Daughters and the Elusive Nature of Friendship

Female friendships can be a source of support in times of stress but those women coming out of difficult or toxic families of origin often find themselves unable to make them work.

Why a Mother Would Cut a Child Out of Her Life

While adult child-parent estrangement is usually set in motion by the adult child, there are exceptions. Painful and chaotic, here are some snapshots of personal experiences.

How Unloved Daughters Rationalize Verbal Abuse

Women who grew up with verbally abusive mothers (and fathers) often find themselves being verbally abused in adult relationships. Are they magnets or is it something else?

How Toxic Parenting Can Lead to Sibling Warfare

The loss of sibling ties or active sibling hostility in adulthood are often the result of an unloving mother or father's treatment in childhood. We need to stop ignoring the issue.

Why Parental Estrangement Is Sometimes Unavoidable

Cultural attitudes toward estrangement shame the adult child who has initiated no contact—but that may be changing as society begins to see that it's neither rare nor unjustified.

Narcissists, Controllers, and the Art of Blame-Shifting

Sometimes, when someone actively refuses to take responsibility for actions and words, there's a toxic dynamic afoot.

Why Unloved Daughters Feel Like They Don't Belong

Feeling like the odd person out and singled out in negative ways can be a byproduct of a toxic childhood. Here are some tips on how to make sure you're not contributing to it.

In Lockdown with a Narcissist? 5 Things Not to Do

Dealing with a narcissist is never easy but sheltering in place with one is a whole other story. Your life will get easier if you can manage to avoid these five pitfalls.

Unloved Daughters: Mother's Day and the Sense of Loss

For many daughters, this most commercial of holidays is isolating and painful. But there are strategies to help you cope.

Toxic Childhood? 5 Things You Can Do to Heal (Even Now)

Most of us have life pretty much on hold, but recovering from the effects of a childhood in which your emotional needs weren't met can be ongoing, even while you're stuck at home.

Should You Reconsider Parental Estrangement in a Pandemic?

Should you be second-guessing choices you made in calmer times? What about boundaries set with toxic parents? A close look at how some people are dealing.

Unloved Daughters: How to Manage Your Emotions in a Crisis

With life turned upside-down for everyone, staying emotionally centered is pretty much a universal task. But some will find it more difficult than others.

Weirded Out by Working From Home? 7 Tips to Make It Easier

Work-life in the United States and elsewhere has taken an unexpected turn for millions. Here's how to deal when you have to work where you sleep..

The Emotional Fallout from Recognizing Maternal Abuse

Finally understanding painful family dynamics doesn't necessarily bring inner peace, not at first, which may come as an unwelcome surprise. Here's why.

How Your Attachment Style Colors Your World

While there are aspects of childhood we consciously remember, much of what influences our behaviors and ways of relating remains unconscious and automatic.

Unloved Daughters and the Struggle for Self-Compassion

We learn what love is in infancy and childhood. For some of us, the lessons are not what we needed, and loving ourselves as adults becomes an obstacle we need to face.

Is It Worse to Be the Only Child of an Unloving Mother?

The culture considers a child with siblings always to have an advantage, but is that really true? Looking at the only child whose emotional needs aren't met.

Toxic Childhood? 5 Spiritual Exercises to Heal the Soul

We are always focused on the work of unlearning from pain and neglect, but what if we tended our inner gardens instead? A look into the possibilities.

When Your Mother Is Too Close for Comfort

Can mothers and daughters be friends? Or, more importantly, should they be? A look at what can go wrong when boundaries aren't in place.

4 Things We've Learned About Adult Child-Parent Estrangement

Even though it's a source of social shame for those who have chosen it, the reality is that being estranged from your family is far from a rarity.

Unloved Daughters and the Problem of Unmet Goals

Sometimes, the obstacles in our paths are leftovers from early life experiences. Is your past insinuating itself into your present and stopping you from achieving?

7 Ways to Bounce Back

When life gets messy, do you have what it takes to pick yourself up and start over? There are strategies at hand to help you deal and get back on track.

Are You Too Defensive for Your Own Good? 6 Signs You Are

How often does your reactivity get in your way—in the workplace, in friendships, or in relationships? A look at why self-protectiveness may not always be a positive thing.

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