If you listen to a podcast like ours, you’re probably familiar with the phrase “daddy issues.” A more accurate way to understand daddy issues is as a form of attachment wounding, which describes situations where our adult relationships are affected by complicated, difficult, or traumatic experiences we had as a child.

In this episode, Forrest and Dr. Rick explore what daddy issues are, how they relate to attachment theory, sexism and the broader social and historical context, different forms of attachment wounding, and a simple way to understand your attachment style. They then walk through four common sets of symptoms and challenges related to attachment wounding, and what a person can do to move toward secure attachment.

Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:50: What are daddy issues?

6:35: Parental roles and symptoms of attachment wounding

13:35: How attachment patterns are created

19:35: Yearning for narcissistic supplies

22:10: Gendered dynamics, and the pejorative use of the phrase “daddy issues”

28:20: Claiming your power

31:15: Forming a coherent narrative, and looking for what was missing

34:50: A simple method for assessing your attachment style

41:50: Social support

44:10: Who you are to others, and meeting person to person

50:55: Situation #1: How to deal with fears of abandonment and being alone

55:00: Situation #2: “I need a lot of reassurance and external validation.”

58:10: Situation #3: Fears related to emotional vulnerability

1:05:15: Situation #4: “I keep dating the same (problematic) kind of person.”

1:10:30: Making deliberate effort

1:14:50: Recap

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New Program From Rick! If you want to break old patterns and step out of the familiar scripts that hold you back, Rick's Change Your Mind online course is for you. It's a 6-week program starting March 18 designed to help you step out of old assumptions and attitudes and into new, helpful thoughts about yourself and others. Visit RickHanson.net/ChangeYourMind to learn more and get 20% with coupon code BeingWell20.

Sponsors: This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp, and you can join over a million people using the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!

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