
The Crappy Childhood Fairy Podcast with Anna Runkle
I’m Anna Runkle, also known as the Crappy Childhood Fairy, and I teach people to recognize and heal the symptoms of Childhood PTSD. Welcome to my podcast!I’m not a doctor or therapist; I know about childhood trauma because I lived it, and I discovered a radical approach to healing that focuses first on calming neurological dysregulation, which is common in people who grew up with abuse and neglect. In my podcasts, I teach about dysregulation – how to know if you have it, what it can do to your body, your thinking and your relationships, and what to do to master re-regulation. When I learned this, everything in my life got suddenly easier. I’ll also be teaching you to heal the life problems that so often develop after years of living dysregulated – feeling tired, isolated and unfocused, finding yourself always drawn to unavailable and inappropriate partners, and falling WAY short of your professional potential, for example. The thing about me is, traditional therapies never seemed to help me. When I found techniques that did work, my whole life changed. Only in the past few years has the trauma research caught up to explain why – why the techniques I use worked, why therapy didn’t, and why my healing journey was so unnecessarily long. I’ve been teaching what I learned for more than 20 years now. It started with friends who had noticed the quick and dramatic change in me, and gradually grew by word of mouth. In 2016, I had so many people seeking instruction that I made my first online video, and then an online course, and this is how Crappy Childhood Fairy was born. My techniques and principles are practical yet powerful – an approach anyone can use, whether or not you have access to professional help. In this podcast, I’ll be talking about the master of self-regulation, and teach the tough-love life-lessons that you may not have learned at home – like how to date so that stable love finds you, how to get ahead at work, and how to calm the negative hamster-wheel thoughts that block your ability to connect with other people. Today, almost half a million people follow my work and participate in my training and coaching programs. My mission is to change the paradigm of what’s possible for people like us, and to help you free yourself from the oppression of trauma wounds, and to become your full, happy and real self. I’m glad you’re here! Watch new videos on my YouTube channel every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and access my videos, courses and free tools at crappychildhoodfairy.com.
Latest episodes

Jul 16, 2023 • 2h 24min
Hyper-Intense Reactions to Stress Damages Relationships; Here's What to Do
Abuse, neglect and other traumatic experiences from your past can cause nervous system changes that cause your emotions to come out stronger than other people's. Rage, panic, or passionate attachment to others can get so oversized that they ruin relationships and damage others' trust in you. In this "best of" compilation I teach you why this happens, and how to regulate your nervous system, so you can have the full range of emotions, but not be drowned by them.
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Take my FREE Course or Quizzes: https://bit.ly/40M2YeWEnroll in my Courses or Membership: https://bit.ly/3HP5qcfSend your questions & comments to: Hello@CrappyChildhoodFairy.com

Jul 14, 2023 • 16min
LIMERENCE: Major Losses Trigger Obsessive Love
Based on all the hundreds of letters I get – the background stories about abuse and neglect in childhood, and the present day struggles to form loving, committed relationships – it’s clear to me that limerence is the fruit of emotional neglect. We get too good at seeing love where there is no love, and if we don’t heal, it continues into adulthood, becoming worse in times when we’re isolated, grieving, and chronically stressed. In this video I respond to a letter from a Ukranian refugee devastated when a new relationship fizzled out.
Is Past Trauma Affecting Your Dating Life? Take the QUIZ: https://bit.ly/3EUy8Yh
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Take my FREE Course or Quizzes: https://bit.ly/40M2YeWEnroll in my Courses or Membership: https://bit.ly/3HP5qcfSend your questions & comments to: Hello@CrappyChildhoodFairy.com

Jul 12, 2023 • 13min
Drama-Free Strategies to Keep Family Members From Ruining Your Day
Have CPTSD? TAKE THE QUIZ: http://bit.ly/3GhE65z
FREE COURSE: The Daily Practice: http://bit.ly/3X1BrE0
Website: http://bit.ly/3CxgkRY
*** What do you do when you're forced to be face-to-face with the person who traumatized you when you were small? Do you confront them, warn them, talk in advance? Ignore them? In this video I respond to a letter from a woman who will be attending a family gathering, where she'll see her father for the first time after years of no contact. Hear my suggestions for strengthening her boundaries to avoid trouble, while enjoying the day. Difficult People in Your Life?
Try These NINJA BOUNDARIES: https://bit.ly/3YCnpZJ
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Jul 10, 2023 • 19min
Friendship Skills For People Who Didn't Learn This At Home
Have CPTSD? TAKE THE QUIZ: http://bit.ly/3GhE65z
FREE COURSE: The Daily Practice: http://bit.ly/3X1BrE0
Website: http://bit.ly/3CxgkRY
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If you grew up in a dysfunctional family (especially if your parents didn't have strong social skills) there’s a high probability that finding good friends and developing close friendships has been hard for you. The lack of good friends can devastate your life over time: You end up isolated, lonely and vulnerable. Having people who love you and “get” you is a factor in your physical and mental health. Not having friends is a big setback, and if this has been a struggle in the past, you've been robbed you of the life you deserve in some ways already. In this video I break down, step by step, actions you can take to find better friends and sustain more fulfilling friendships over time. Learn Better Friendship Skills.
FREE Download: https://bit.ly/3WS0475
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Jul 9, 2023 • 1h 44min
How to Heal Your Trauma-Driven Thinking So You Can Make Better Decisions
A history of abuse and neglect in childhood affects how you think, what you believe, and how you act. This is a major factor that explains why people with CPTSD seem to make self-sabotaging decisions, ruining opportunities and repeating terrible mistakes you swore you'd never do again. In this "best of" compilation, I share a collection of videos where I teach about identifying trauma-driven decisions and thoughts, and how to support yourself in order to make better choices and change your life.
Has Past Trauma Affected Your Ability to Connect? CONNECTION QUIZ: https://bit.ly/3LcjDD8
Take my FREE Course or Quizzes: https://bit.ly/40M2YeW Enroll in my Courses or Membership: https://bit.ly/3HP5qcf
Send your questions & comments to: Hello@CrappyChildhoodFairy.com

Jul 7, 2023 • 1h 38min
Why Traumatized People Struggle With Friendships (and How You Can Heal)
Have CPTSD? TAKE THE QUIZ: http://bit.ly/3GhE65z
FREE COURSE: The Daily Practice: http://bit.ly/3X1BrE0
Website: http://bit.ly/3CxgkRY
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It's common for people who grew up emotionally neglected or exposed to trauma to have difficulty finding friends and maintaining friendships. Sometimes we choose unreliable people; sometimes we (unintentionally) push good poeple away. In this "best of" compilation I share a series of videos highlighting common challenges for people with CPTSD.
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Jul 5, 2023 • 16min
Sometimes Your Strength is The Reason They Turn On You
Have CPTSD? TAKE THE QUIZ: http://bit.ly/3GhE65z
FREE COURSE: The Daily Practice: http://bit.ly/3X1BrE0
Website: http://bit.ly/3CxgkRY
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To avoid responsibility for their own actions, abusive parents sometimes make one child into a scapegoat, and siblings follow suit. Scapegoat suffer horribly, but getting pushed out of the family sometimes means they demonstrate more strength and success in life than those who we kept in the family fold. In this video I respond to a letter from a woman trying to make sense of the fact she was rejected by every family member. Difficult People in Your Life?
Try These NINJA BOUNDARIES: https://bit.ly/3YCnpZJ

Jul 3, 2023 • 19min
Emotional Dysregulation Ruins Even The Best Relationships
If you grew up neglected, chances are good that when you’re under stress, you get emotionally dysregulated -- your nervous system reacts to stressors with extra strong emotions. When most people would be hurt, you’re devastated. When you fall in love it feels enormous. And getting angry, unfortunately for the people who love you, can turn into RAGE. Emotional dysregulation is not exclusive to Childhood PTSD, but it’s a very common and very destructive symptom. And perhaps more than any other truama symptom, it ruins relationships and kills dreams. The good news is, healing is possible, and in this video I teach you how.
Try the FREE Daily Practice Course: https://bit.ly/3Y4263I
Take my FREE Course or Quizzes: https://bit.ly/40M2YeW
Enroll in my Courses or Membership: https://bit.ly/3HP5qcf
Send your questions & comments to: Hello@CrappyChildhoodFairy.com

Jul 2, 2023 • 25min
Demoralization: How to Resuscitate The GOOD In You & Recover Faith In The Future
To be “Demoralized” means to be deflated of all that makes you strong – to have too many bad and discouraging things happen to you until you lose your mental clarity, and lose your drive to bring good into the world. It includes disempowerment, but it takes it one terrible step further – to where you lose your awareness of what is GOOD, and what is right. The most important first step of healing is to recover your faith that GOOD is real, and it matters. Heal Trauma in Just One Year? https://bit.ly/3JrPdvx Take my FREE Course or Quizzes: https://bit.ly/40M2YeW Enroll in my Courses or Membership: https://bit.ly/3HP5qcf Send your questions & comments to: Hello@CrappyChildhoodFairy.com

Jun 29, 2023 • 28min
Crisis-Stage Codependency: How You Know It's Happening
Codependency may feel like a personality quirk but it can grow much, much worse. Codependency can snowball into a crisis-level distortion of thinking that -- unless you heal -- drags down your life (and the lives of others). In this video, I respond to a letter from a woman who finds herself pregnant and dependent upon an undependable and possibly dangerous partner, but cannot see the role she must play to get to safety.
Is Past Trauma Affecting Your Dating Life? Take the QUIZ: https://bit.ly/3EUy8Yh
Take my FREE Course or Quizzes: https://bit.ly/40M2YeW
Enroll in my Courses or Membership: https://bit.ly/3HP5qcf
Send your questions & comments to: Hello@CrappyChildhoodFairy.com