You’ve always known something was off about Mom. You’ve even wondered if there were something legitimately wrong with her. You’ve noticed how she makes everything about her and goes off the rails if you challenge her. You may have even thought it was your fault. If only you were better somehow, less sensitive, not so much trouble… You…

If you’d rather read- transcript- Speaker 1: 00:01 You know, after a day of seeing daughters of difficult mothers, I would like to scrap… if I could… once and for all the myth that daughter’s just like to complain about their moms. New Speaker: 00:16 It’s not one thing…

If you would rather read- Speaker 1: 00:00 I want to give a shout out to moms who are truly heroic in my book and that’s the mom who, despite having a very difficult impaired mother themselves, somehow managed to pull it out and come through as they’re raising…

It’s a terrible choice to have to make. — When you have to choose between your partner and Mom — it can be gut-wrenching. Your childhood self is programmed to obey and respond to mom. You feel guilty if you don’t choose mom. On the other hand, you know you need to choose your partner to establish trust and closeness. When mom puts herself first and doesn’t let go, this makes it hard for you to connect with and invest in your partner.

“ I don’t want to mess up my daughter the way my mom messed me up.” — “I want to be a better mother than the one I had.” “I just want her to feel good about herself. “ Yep, EVERY mother on my psychotherapy couch who has a difficult mother and is now raising a daughter has the worry she will make the same mistakes her mother made and leave her daughter feeling anxious and insecure. If you are one of those mothers I have good news for you- read on.

( The intrusive mother does more harm to your relationship than you know) — Her timing is impeccable. Just when you are starting to get intimate with your partner your cell goes off… “Hold on sweetie; I’ve got to get this. It’s mom calling!” Good lord, the invasion of Iraq didn’t take this much planning. Your oldest is having a play date, SCORE! The baby down for a…

At what point do you say ENOUGH! Enough abuse, dysfunction, bullying, drama, intrusion, insults, and toxicity for one lifetime. At what point do you decide going “no contact” with your difficult mother is the way to go? Almost every daughter of a difficult mother I see struggles with where to…

Is Mom a helicopter… overly involved mother or a covert narcissist? It can be hard to tell from the outside looking in. PTA president, school volunteer, Sunday school teacher… who would guess mom doesn’t have her daughter’s best interest at heart? And, consciously, she may. Mom may tell herself she is her daughter’s champion.” Come hell or high water, nothing but the best for my daughter”, is her battle cry.

Mom just can’t take criticism. — Regardless of how carefully you put your complaint, mom can’t admit any wrongdoing. No matter what you say, she always has a comeback. Does she think she is untouchable or perfect? That would be an easy answer, but you know, that’s not the whole story. Despite what looks like arrogance on the outside, you know she is an unhappy person on the inside. There’s a hard shell, an…