“That Never Happened”: When Family Minimizes Your Pain (Part 1)

Send us Fan Mail What happens when the people who hurt you insist it “wasn’t that bad”—or straight-up tell you it never happened? In Part 1 of this special two-part episode of Not Your Therapist, I’m joined by Christine Giarrizzo, journalist, mom, blogger, and host of the Momming as a Millennial podcast, for a conversation about what it’s like to heal from a dysfunctional family when the people around you minimize, deny, or rewrite your experience. And honestly? This turned into less of an interview and more of a live Q&A—which means we get INTO it. We talk about childhood trauma, emotionally immature parents, dysfunctional family roles, guilt, boundaries, nervous system responses, and why your family may suddenly have a whole lot to say when you stop playing the role they assigned you. Because here’s the thing: your family doesn’t have to agree with your experience for your experience to be real. If you grew up hearing things like “That never happened,” “You’re too sensitive,” “We did the best we could,” or “Why are you still talking about this?”—yeah. This episode is for you. 🎧 Check out Christine’s podcast, Momming as a Millennial, for more honest conversations about motherhood, identity, and finding fulfillment beyond taking care of everyone else. 🌶️ Come find me on Instagram @thespicyshrink and tell me what hit home. I genuinely want to hear your take. And if you’re ready to go beyond recognizing your dysfunctional family patterns and actually learn what to DO with them, check out Survival to Self: The Starter Guide to Healing from Dysfunctional Families—my step-by-step course for understanding your patterns, setting boundaries, responding to manipulation, and learning how to stop abandoning yourself just to keep the peace. Part 2 coming next. Support the show 🖤 If this episode made you feel seen, I've got a lot more where that came from. ✨ Follow me on Instagram @the_spicyshrink for daily no-BS mental health content. ✨ Grab my FREE Family Survival Roles Quiz to discover the survival role you learned growing up. ✨ Ready to stop understanding your family and start responding differently? Check out The Dysfunctional Family Playbook and all my resources at stan.store/kaylareilly. See you next week, friend. 💛