Emotionally immature parents and grandparents: what to do if you have them (or are one)
6/13/202635 min
Should you consider estrangement from an emotionally immature parent? How do you process the grief of realising your more stable parent … might have been a passive enabler? And what should you do if you realise you are an emotionally immature parent?
This week, clinical psychologist and author Lindsay Gibson is answering your questions about emotionally immature parents. Each family is different, but she shares some key tips and lessons that can help you navigate difficult relationships.
If you missed last week's episode with Lindsay, you can find it here, or listen to our original 2021 episode with her here.
Guest:
Dr Lindsay GibsonClinical psychologistAuthor, How to Raise an Emotionally Mature Child
Credits:
- Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
- Senior producer: James Bullen
- Producer: Rose Kerr
- Sound engineer: Roi Huberman
You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAnthony Burke0:00
ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music and more. [upbeat music] What if the most ordinary things in your life aren't ordinary at all? A toothbrush [toothbrush brushing], the pockets in your jeans, even a gravestone. Someone designed them, shaped them, argued over them and got it so right you've stopped noticing. The everyday is full of hidden ingenuity, and on By Design with me, Anthony Burke, we pull it all into the light. Search for By Design on the ABC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Sana Qadar· Host0:36
Hey, I'm Sana Qadar. This is All in the Mind, Mailbag Edition. [upbeat music] We've got clinical psychologist Dr Lindsay Gibson back on the show this week. Her books are all about the relationships between parents and children, where they can go awry, how to recover and how to repair them. And on last week's show, we spoke to Lindsay about her newest book, How to Raise an Emotionally Mature Child, and off the back of that, we asked you for your questions about your own parent-child relationships. Oh my gosh, did you deliver. We had a ton of really thoughtful emails into our inbox. We heard from many people who are trying to figure out how to deal with the damage inflicted on them in childhood. We also heard from a few people who realized that they might be an emotionally immature parent themselves, or perhaps were