Managing Toxic Relationships
Episode 17 season 5: Sharon Martin on HSPs Cutting Family Ties
What can you do if your family relationships are toxic? Listen in on this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, as host Elizabeth Cush welcomes psychotherapist Sharon Martin for a discussion on sensitive women cutting family ties so you can heal.
“Being angry is very both natural and helpful in a situation. When you have been mistreated, you should feel angry about that.”
Show Notes:
Highly sensitive persons can have a hard time letting go of harmful relationships. When those toxic relationships involve parents or other family members, cutting ties can be especially painful. Between our empathy for others and the pressure that others put on us to preserve family ties, stepping away can be incredibly difficult—but it can be so necessary for our self-care. In this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, host Elizabeth “Biz” Cush, LCPC, a licensed professional therapist, founder of Progression Counseling in Maryland and Delaware, and a soul guide for highly sensitive women, welcomes psychotherapist and author Sharon Martin, DSW, LCSW, back to the podcast to talk about the issues that can make setting hard boundaries with toxic family members so challenging, options for navigating those boundaries and what it can feel like to heal and move on.
Listen and learn:
Why we don’t hear much talk about breaking up with our families
How the messages we get from the community about our families can hold us back
Why cutting ties from a toxic family member can leave us feeling isolated and alone
Why scapegoating is so common in dysfunctional families
What’s involved in making the decision to step away, healing and becoming your authentic self
Why forgiveness may not be necessary
How anger can be necessary—and when it becomes harmful
Why breaking ties with toxic parents can feel so freeing
The importance of exploring the relationship a day at a time
Suggest topics for Biz’s podcast and newsletter
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Learn More:
Live Well With Dr. Sharon Martin website
Dr. Sharon Martin on Instagram
Dr. Sharon Martin: Support for Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families on YouTube
Biz’s Guided meditations on Insight Timer
Other episodes you might enjoy
Awaken Your Wise Woman Episode 13: Sharon Martin/How To Identify What You Need And Ask For It
Woman Worriers Episode 17: Sharon Martin/Codependence, Perfectionism & Anxiety
Woman Worriers Episode 42: Sharon Martin/How to Recover from Perfectionism and Find Balance
Woman Worriers Episode 121: Sharon Martin/How to Ease Your Anxiety by Asking for What You Need
Resources mentioned in this episode
The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Survive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine N. Aron, PhD
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