Adult Child Emotionally Immature Parents: How They Twist Love, Avoid Accountability & Leave Invisible Wounds w/ Lindsay Gibson
Aug 6, 2025
Lindsay Gibson, a clinical psychologist and author of 'Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents', delves into the subtle scars left by emotionally immature parenting. She explains how conditional love and emotional neglect can create chronic self-doubt in children, masked by seemingly normal family dynamics. The conversation explores concepts like parentification and the invisible wounds of feeling unseen or unsupported. Listeners also learn about the struggles of internalizers and externalizers in therapy, emphasizing the path to healing and understanding their emotional landscapes.
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Invisible Harm Of Emotional Neglect
- Emotionally immature parents can meet physical needs while failing emotional ones, causing invisible trauma.
- Lindsay Gibson says emotional neglect often looks “normal” but leaves deep wounds in children.
Four Parenting Types And Their Legacy
- Gibson identifies four emotionally immature parent types: emotional, driven, rejecting, and passive.
- Each type produces specific child survival strategies and long-term relational wounds.
Child Used As Parental Confidant
- Andrea recounts being used as a confidant about her mother's drinking as a child, which felt like special insider status.
- That triangulation later led her to crave information and feel responsible for family dynamics.
