CALLING HOME with Whitney Goodman, LMFT

Whitney interviews Dr. Tracy Dalgleish, author of the new book "You, Your Husband, and His Mother” about navigating mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships. They discuss why this dynamic is so challenging, the scapegoating of daughters-in-law, triangulation of husbands/partners, the difference between setting boundaries and being controlling, and a few practical strategies for surviving the holidays together. Connect with Dr. Tracy: https://www.drtracyd.com/ Preorder her new book: https://amzn.to/4hixF49 00:00 Why the Mother-in-Law Dynamic Is So Common 04:44 The Abandonment Wound 07:04 The Scapegoating of Daughters-in-Law 12:01 Abusive Daughter-In-Laws? 18:54 The Husband's Critical Role in the Triangle 24:09 Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts 28:24 Psychological Conflict Between Women 32:25 Practical Boundaries and Mindset Shifts for the Holidays Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. Have a question for Whitney? Call in and leave a voicemail for the show at 866-225-5466 Join the Family Cyclebreakers Club⁠⁠ Follow Whitney on Instagram | sitwithwhit Follow Whitney on YouTube | @whitneygoodmanlmft ⁠⁠Order Whitney’s book, Toxic Positivity⁠⁠ Learn more about ad choices. Visit podcast.choices.com/adchoices This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whitney analyzes scenes from Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and Love Is Blind to explore mother-daughter estrangement, purity culture shame, and how parents either repair or double down decades after causing harm. She breaks down Whitney Rose's advice to an at-risk mother, Bronwyn's devastating conversation with her mom about pregnancy shame, and two different paths to reconciliation in Love is Blind. Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. 00:00 Using reality tv to understand real family dynamics 03:57 Real Housewives of Salt Lake City 15:45 The devastating scene between Bronwyn and her mom 27:45 Bronwyn’s mom doubles down 36:28 A missed opportunity to heal decades of hurt 39:20 Love Is Blind Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. Have a question for Whitney? Call in and leave a voicemail for the show at 866-225-5466 Join the Family Cyclebreakers Club⁠⁠ Follow Whitney on Instagram | sitwithwhit Follow Whitney on YouTube | @whitneygoodmanlmft ⁠⁠Order Whitney’s book, Toxic Positivity⁠⁠ Learn more about ad choices. Visit podcast.choices.com/adchoices This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Build a more functional family today. In this episode, Whitney breaks down the hallmarks of functional families, how these skills can be learned regardless of how you grew up, and practical steps to get started. Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. 00:00 Introduction: What Functional Families Actually Look Like 02:31 Admitting When There Are Problems 03:51 Open Communication and Repair 04:37 Being Known Without Performance 05:17 Reliability and Dependability 05:57 Zero Abuse or Neglect 07:21 Unconditional Belonging 09:14 Small Actions You Can Start Today Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. Have a question for Whitney? Call in and leave a voicemail for the show at 866-225-5466 Join the Family Cyclebreakers Club⁠⁠ Follow Whitney on Instagram | sitwithwhit Follow Whitney on YouTube | @whitneygoodmanlmft ⁠⁠Order Whitney’s book, Toxic Positivity⁠⁠ Learn more about ad choices. Visit podcast.choices.com/adchoices This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Discover three transformative practices to reduce anxiety, like meditation combined with red light therapy. Explore the challenges of being the golden child expected to fix family issues while grappling with shallow relationships. Unpack the complexities of children feeling trapped between conflicting parental dynamics, along with the emotional burden of being the family problem solver. Learn how to navigate relationships devoid of real connection and the importance of setting boundaries for personal well-being.

Whitney Goodman interviews psychologist Dr. Julie Fraga about her book "Parents Have Feelings Too." They discuss how parents can process their own emotions, break cycles of guilt and perfectionism, use the Change Triangle to understand their feelings, and teach emotional intelligence to their children—all while navigating the challenge of parenting differently than they were raised. 00:00 The Shift from Fixing Kids to Supporting Parents 04:26 Managing Parental Guilt 09:11 Getting Ahead of Overstimulation as a Parent 15:37 Breaking Intergenerational Patterns Without Overcorrecting 20:24 The Change Triangle 25:10 Why Kids' Emotions Make Parents Uncomfortable 30:18 Finding Joy in Parenting Dr. Juli's Website: https://www.drjulifraga.com/ Order her new book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/788442/parents-have-feelings-too-by-hilary-jacobs-hendel/ Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. Have a question for Whitney? Call in and leave a voicemail for the show at 866-225-5466 Join the Family Cyclebreakers Club⁠⁠ Follow Whitney on Instagram | sitwithwhit Follow Whitney on YouTube | @whitneygoodmanlmft ⁠⁠Order Whitney’s book, Toxic Positivity⁠⁠ Learn more about ad choices. Visit podcast.choices.com/adchoices This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whitney explores patterns around adult children who mimic their parents' harmful behaviors, the complexities of maintaining boundaries when a parent struggles with addiction, and how illness can be weaponized in estranged families. In the Q&A, she answers a caller's question about navigating grandparent illness during estrangement. 00:00 Introduction: Darker Family Patterns 02:59 Airport Observation: When Adult Children Treat Parents Like They Were Treated 08:11 Real Housewives SLC: How to Show Up for a Child Struggling with Addiction 10:55 Q&A: When Grandparent Illness Becomes a Manipulation Tactic Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. Have a question for Whitney? Call in and leave a voicemail for the show at 866-225-5466 Join the Family Cyclebreakers Club⁠⁠ Follow Whitney on Instagram | sitwithwhit Follow Whitney on YouTube | @whitneygoodmanlmft ⁠⁠Order Whitney’s book, Toxic Positivity⁠⁠ Learn more about ad choices. Visit podcast.choices.com/adchoices This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whitney analyzes the Amazon Prime show "The Girlfriend" to explore mother-son enmeshment and emotional incest. She analyzes how the show illustrates blurred boundaries, guilt and manipulation, marital dysfunction, and the devastating long-term impacts on sons' ability to form healthy romantic relationships, connecting the fictional dynamics to real research on these family patterns. Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. 00:00 Introduction to The Girlfriend and Mother-Son Enmeshment 04:00 Defining Emotional Incest and What It Looks Like 09:06 Power Assertion and Blocked Individuation 14:10 The Girlfriend as Both Rival and Mirror 17:25 How Marital Dysfunction Fuels Enmeshment 21:56 Why Enmeshed Sons Struggle with Adult Partnerships 25:12 Lies, Isolation, and the Ultimate Betrayal Have a question for Whitney? Call in and leave a voicemail for the show at 866-225-5466 Join the Family Cyclebreakers Club⁠⁠ Follow Whitney on Instagram | sitwithwhit Follow Whitney on YouTube | @whitneygoodmanlmft ⁠⁠Order Whitney’s book, Toxic Positivity⁠⁠ Learn more about ad choices. Visit podcast.choices.com/adchoices This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whitney reflects on how the "rage economy" of social media and news is destroying our mental health and capacity to connect with others. She explores how algorithms reward inflammatory content that keeps us trapped in cycles of anger and isolation. Later in the episode she highlights a positive example from Real Housewives of Orange County where a parent demonstrates accountability and course-correction in real time. Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. Have a question for Whitney? Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to whitney@callinghome.co or leave a voicemail to 866-225-5466 Join the Family Cyclebreakers Club⁠⁠ Follow Whitney on Instagram | sitwithwhit Follow Whitney on YouTube | @whitneygoodmanlmft ⁠⁠Order Whitney’s book, Toxic Positivity⁠⁠ 00:00 The Rage Economy That's Destroying Our Mental Health 04:34 How Algorithms Reward Inflammatory Content Over Nuance 08:58 Breaking Free from the Cycle of Rage and Reactivity 12:34 When Sports Team Politics Replace Critical Thinking 16:35 Real Housewives Example: How to Course-Correct as a Parent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whitney Goodman teams up with therapist Kate Gray (@codependencykate) to analyze a viral YouTube video from an estranged parent with over 1.2 million views. They break down common patterns of defensiveness, emotional neglect, and deflection that prevent reconciliation, offering insights for both estranged adult children and estranged parents on how these dynamics play out and what healthier approaches might look like. Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. Have a question for Whitney? Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to whitney@callinghome.co or leave a voicemail to 866-225-5466 Join the Family Cyclebreakers Club⁠⁠ Follow Whitney on Instagram | sitwithwhit Follow Whitney on YouTube | @whitneygoodmanlmft ⁠⁠Order Whitney’s book, Toxic Positivity⁠⁠ 00:00 Introduction and Disclaimers About Analyzing Real People 05:24 The Politics Defense and Minimizing the Daughter’s Letter 13:53 Empty Gestures vs. Real Connection 26:45 The Birthday Martyrdom and Drama Triangle 34:06 Public Betrayal 42:43 Ghosting vs. Setting Boundaries 53:54 Spiritual Bypassing and Avoiding Real Accountability Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whitney breaks down dysfunctional family dynamics in Real Housewives of Miami and The Summer I Turned Pretty, then answers a caller's question about healing from the pain of having an enabling parent who failed to protect them from an abusive narcissistic parent. Enabling parents are often harder to process than overtly abusive ones and Whitney details what finding acceptance actually looks like. Have a question for Whitney? Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to whitney@callinghome.co or leave a voicemail to 866-225-5466 Whitney Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the founder of Calling Home, a membership community that helps people navigate complex family dynamics and break harmful cycles. Join the Family Cyclebreakers Club⁠⁠ Follow Whitney on Instagram | sitwithwhit Follow Whitney on YouTube | @whitneygoodmanlmft ⁠⁠Order Whitney’s book, Toxic Positivity⁠⁠ This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute  for professional mental health advice. 00:00 Family Cycle Breakers Club Community Update 05:02 Real Housewives of Miami: When Parents Take Credit for Your Success 08:19 Family Estrangement After Late-Life Adoption 13:18 The Summer I Turned Pretty: Should Parents Boycott Major Life Events 16:22 Q&A: How to Heal From an Enabling Parent Who Never Protected You Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices