You're Not Crazy: A Podcast for Cycle Breakers with Toxic Parents
Torie Wiksell
26 episodes
1 day ago
Psychotherapist and Coach, Torie Wiksell, is no stranger to talking about challenging and dysfunctional family dynamics. In addition to specializing in working with the adult children of parents with borderline and narcissistic personality disorders as both a therapist and coach, Torie grew up with a mother who had an unmanaged personality disorder.Torie has spent a significant portion of her 12 year career as a therapist working with clients with personality disorders, their partners, and family members, and brings a unique and relatable perspective to navigating these complicated relationships.Follow TorieOn TikTok: tiktok.com/@theboundariescoachOn Instagram: instagram.com/torieatconfidentboundariesLearn more about Coaching and the Confident Boundaries Membership: www.confidentboundaries.comDisclaimer: This podcast is not therapy. If you are in mental health crisis, please contact the Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. You're Not Crazy is a podcast owned and produced by Torie Wiksell and Confident Boundaries, LLC.
All content for You're Not Crazy: A Podcast for Cycle Breakers with Toxic Parents is the property of Torie Wiksell and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Psychotherapist and Coach, Torie Wiksell, is no stranger to talking about challenging and dysfunctional family dynamics. In addition to specializing in working with the adult children of parents with borderline and narcissistic personality disorders as both a therapist and coach, Torie grew up with a mother who had an unmanaged personality disorder.Torie has spent a significant portion of her 12 year career as a therapist working with clients with personality disorders, their partners, and family members, and brings a unique and relatable perspective to navigating these complicated relationships.Follow TorieOn TikTok: tiktok.com/@theboundariescoachOn Instagram: instagram.com/torieatconfidentboundariesLearn more about Coaching and the Confident Boundaries Membership: www.confidentboundaries.comDisclaimer: This podcast is not therapy. If you are in mental health crisis, please contact the Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. You're Not Crazy is a podcast owned and produced by Torie Wiksell and Confident Boundaries, LLC.
In the first episode of You're Not Crazy for 2026, I’m reflecting on the evolution of this work, my own cycle-breaking journey, and the language we use to understand toxic parent dynamics.
In this final episode of the year, Torie reflects on what the last year has brought both personally and professionally, and what she’s carrying forward into 2026.
The holidays can be overwhelming for anyone. But for cycle breakers navigating toxic family dynamics, this season often brings grief, guilt, dissociation, and intense pressure to “get it right.”
Today we're talking about the gift of allowing yourself to change your mind- something that can feel quite impossible for those of us who grow up in dysfunctional families.
Holiday stress has a way of stirring up old patterns, especially for cycle breakers. If you found yourself snapping, shutting down, feeling overwhelmed around your family, or slipping into reactions you thought you’d outgrown, you’re not alone.
Navigating Thanksgiving or the holidays with a narcissistic, emotionally immature, or otherwise toxic parent can feel impossible, especially if you’ve been procrastinating making a plan.
In this episode, Torie breaks down why the term family estrangement is so misleading — and why it often fuels stigma against adult children who’ve chosen to go no contact with toxic or narcissistic parents.
If you grew up in a toxic family, you probably learned early on that your role was to take care of everyone else. To smooth things over. To keep the peace. To make sure no one got upset—even if it meant betraying yourself.
Growing up with a narcissistic parent doesn’t just make childhood hard— it shapes how you see yourself, love, and safety. In this deeply personal episode, I share the story I’ve avoided telling publicly until now: how the abuse I experienced from my narcissist mom directly led me straight into an abusive relationship at 18.
This week on You’re Not Crazy, Torie shares a candid conversation for every cycle breaker heading into the holidays with a toxic or emotionally immature parent.
If you’ve ever felt pressured to go no-contact with your toxic parent, shamed for not doing enough, or overwhelmed by black-and-white advice for healing, this episode will remind you that your healing journey is yours—and it doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.
In today’s episode, I’m sharing one of the most important mindset shifts for healing from narcissistic parents or emotionally immature parents: stop asking if they’re a “good person” and start focusing on their repeated behaviors. So many cycle breakers get stuck in the what ifs: What if they don’t mean to hurt me?What if they’re doing their best?What if they had a hard childhood too?But here’s the truth: your healing doesn’t depend on their intentions—it depends on their behavior. When your ...
Lately, I’ve caught myself spiraling into self-gaslighting quite a bit—wondering if I’m exaggerating my childhood trauma, if maybe my mom wasn’t really a narcissist, or if I’m just “too sensitive.” If you’ve ever doubted your own reality, you’re definitely not alone. In this episode of You’re Not Crazy, I share: Why self-gaslighting shows up (especially around stressful seasons like the holidays)The hidden reasons cycle breakers start questioning themselvesHow I personally deal with these tho...
In this episode, therapist and boundaries coach Torie Wiksell (and fellow cycle breaker) exposes the myth of “no contact as a fad” and validates the years—sometimes decades—of exhausting effort cycle breakers pour into maintaining relationships with narcissistic or emotionally immature parents before making the heartbreaking decision to step back. We’ll cover: Why going no contact with a toxic parent is never taken lightlyThe hidden grief and guilt cycle breakers face when boundaries still ar...
In this episode, I talk about the complicated grief that surfaces once we begin setting boundaries and creating distance from toxic, narcissistic, or emotionally immature parents. I share what it looked like in my own life— the emotional toll of being a parentified child, and why our healing journey often involves mourning the milestones we missed while we were just trying to survive. This conversation is especially for those who feel behind in life, who struggle with guilt for being sad abou...
Big news! The Confident Boundaries App is officially live—now available for free on iPhone and Android. Inside, you’ll get instant access to a curated starter bundle of some of my favorite episodes and articles to support your healing from family dysfunction. In today’s episode, we’re digging into a question I hear often from adult children of narcissistic parents or those with unmanaged BPD: “Why do I keep ending up in toxic relationships?” When you grow up with emotionally immature or...
You're Not Crazy: A Podcast for Cycle Breakers with Toxic Parents
Psychotherapist and Coach, Torie Wiksell, is no stranger to talking about challenging and dysfunctional family dynamics. In addition to specializing in working with the adult children of parents with borderline and narcissistic personality disorders as both a therapist and coach, Torie grew up with a mother who had an unmanaged personality disorder.Torie has spent a significant portion of her 12 year career as a therapist working with clients with personality disorders, their partners, and family members, and brings a unique and relatable perspective to navigating these complicated relationships.Follow TorieOn TikTok: tiktok.com/@theboundariescoachOn Instagram: instagram.com/torieatconfidentboundariesLearn more about Coaching and the Confident Boundaries Membership: www.confidentboundaries.comDisclaimer: This podcast is not therapy. If you are in mental health crisis, please contact the Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. You're Not Crazy is a podcast owned and produced by Torie Wiksell and Confident Boundaries, LLC.
