Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of childhood sexual abuse, religious trauma, suicide attempts, and domestic violence. Please listen with care.

In this powerful episode of Dysfunctional, Karinne shares her story of surviving a childhood shaped by the Jehovah’s Witnesses — a group she now calls a cult — and parents who were both abusive and narcissistic.

Kicked out at 16 after being groomed and blamed for it, Karinne found herself completely alone in the world, trauma-bonded to the very people who harmed her, and struggling to make sense of a reality she was never prepared for.

What follows is a conversation about real healing — not the Instagram version with matcha and mantras, but the messy, angry, beautiful kind that happens when you start telling the truth.

Together we explore:

What it’s like growing up in a high-control religious cult

The impact of narcissistic parenting and spiritual abuse

Purity culture, fear-based control, and enforced submission

The trauma bond and why it’s so hard to break

What healing actually looks like — day-to-day, years on

Karinne is funny, fierce, and real. She’s not here to sugarcoat anything. This is what healing sounds like in real life.

📲 Connect with Karinne on insta - @girl_inshambles

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most people think they’re broken. Most people think dysregulation is a problem. Most people think the answer is to regulate, reframe, or reset.

But what if all of that is just another distraction?

Another way to bypass what actually needs to be felt?

This episode is a full-bodied dismantling of the healing and wellness world as we know it — with the brilliant Sam Miller, who teaches Mind-Body Recovery through a trauma-informed, Jungian, and deeply embodied lens.

We talk about:

Why your symptoms might actually be your body healing

How emotional repression creates chaos in the system

Why "cognitive reframing" is like shouting to the basement from the attic

The cult of regulation and fake safety in the healing space

Performative masculinity, football fights, and the grief men won't feel

And how real emotional healing often looks more like screaming, shaking, and collapsing into a ball in a sauna than it does cold plunges or coaching frameworks

We also dig into the absolute state of the wellness industry — the bypassing, the ego-led facilitators, and why a lot of what’s branded as “healing” is just a new costume for the same old disconnection.

This one goes deep. It’s raw. It’s real.

It’s Dysfunctional.

Best place to find Sam is here - https://youtube.com/@the_mindful_gardener?si=WasM11Ci0DIGsXCg

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, I’m joined by the brilliant Dr. Genevieve von Lob – clinical psychologist, conscious parenting coach, and author of Five Deep Breaths: The Power of Mindful Parenting. Genevieve is a powerful voice for highly sensitive people (HSPs), and she's on a mission to create healing spaces for parents and children who’ve never felt like they fit the mould.

In this raw and deeply validating conversation, we explore what it really means to be highly sensitive in a world that often gets it wrong. We talk about the link between sensitivity and misdiagnosis, the emotional toll of being pathologized, and the damaging impact of growing up misunderstood.

Genevieve shares why many sensitive children end up labelled, punished, or shamed – and how their intense emotional world can actually be their greatest gift. We discuss addiction, bullying, co-regulation, parenting struggles, empowered sensitivity, narcissistic abuse, and why true healing happens in community, not isolation.

This is one of those conversations that might just change how you see yourself – or your child – forever.

Find out more about Dr Genevieve von Lob here -

www.drgenevieve.com

@drgenevievevonlob (instagram) https://www.linkedin.com/in/drgenevieve/ (linkedin)

01:00 Introduction to Dr. Genevieve Von Lobb

02:59 Discovering High Sensitivity in Children

06:19 Personal Journey and Understanding Sensitivity

09:28 Challenges of Highly Sensitive Children

13:21 Recognizing and Supporting Sensitive Children

25:04 The Western Medical Model and Sensitivity

34:19 Bullying and Sensitivity

40:30 Understanding Trauma and Its Impact

41:59 The Dilemma of Highly Sensitive People

42:35 Ignoring Red Flags and Gut Instincts

45:38 Energetic Entanglement and Boundaries

47:12 The Reality of Bullying and Narcissism

50:03 The Journey to Empowerment

01:03:30 The Importance of Community Healing

01:04:57 Final Thoughts and Future Plans

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.