27/12/2025
When a child grows up with a parent who consistently redirects conversations back to themselves, it isn’t just frustrating, it quietly trains the nervous system to believe that your emotions only have value when they support someone else’s story. Psychology research links this pattern to people-pleasing, emotional suppression, and that familiar adult tendency to over-explain, over-perform, and prove worth through being “the strong one.”
Many adults in therapy aren’t learning how to feel — they’re learning how to stop apologising for feeling. That’s the real work. Not blaming parents. Not rewriting history. But acknowledging what wasn’t available, grieving what was missed, and building relationships where empathy isn’t conditional or transactional.
You shouldn’t have to audition for empathy. Being heard isn’t a luxury… it’s a psychological need. And reclaiming your voice isn’t selfish — it’s repair.
adult children of emotionally immature parents, emotional neglect psychology, people pleasing and childhood trauma, therapy for adult emotional healing, attachment trauma patterns, nervous system and relationships, feeling unseen in childhood, reclaiming emotional voice, boundaries and emotional safety, healing childhood wounds in adulthood, trauma informed psychology insights, clinical psychology mental health education, relational trauma recovery, psychological safety and empathy, emotional validation and healing
