When the Bough Breaks

Angie Hawkins joins Alexis Arralynn to share how growing up with emotionally unavailable, controlling, and critical parents shaped her into a lifelong people pleaser. The conversation follows her path from childhood shame and anorexia to adulthood boundaries, her father's death, and the estrangement from her mother that ultimately helped her protect her mental health.This episode matters because it shows how family dynamics can sha...

In This Episode, We Cover:

• What PTSD nightmares really are (and what they are not)
• Why nightmares are repetitive, immersive, and fully sensory
• How the nervous system uses dreams as survival drills
• The physical and cognitive toll of years of disrupted sleep
• Why nightmares don’t fade—they end when danger ends
• How going no-contact and leaving abusive systems changes the brain
• What happens to dreams once safety becomes real
• Why...

CPTSD: The Ultimate Time Loop (and the Starship That Keeps Exploding)

Living with complex trauma can feel like being trapped in a time loop. Not a memory—but many of them. All active. All urgent. All happening now.

In this solo episode, Alexis explores CPTSD through an unexpected but painfully accurate lens: a classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where the Enterprise keeps exploding—over and over—while the...

Forgiveness is one of the most misunderstood—and most weaponized—concepts trauma survivors are taught to accept without question.

In this solo episode of When the Bough Breaks, Alexis dismantles forgiveness from every angle:

the dictionary definition, the religious mandate, the mainstream self-help narrative, and what forgiveness actually looks like when you’ve survived abuse, neglect, estrangement, or long-term har...

 Some families don’t just keep secrets—they assign children the responsibility of protecting them. In this episode of our series Healing for the Holidays, Alexis explores the often-unnamed role of the dark secret keeper in narcissistic households: the child who is expected to know what happened, never speak about it, never grieve it, and carry it quietly into adulthood. 

   Through personal storytelli...

When Grief Becomes a Weapon

Chances are, you’ve probably lived this every holiday—just never had a name for it. In this cheeky solo episode, Alexis breaks down annual family trauma rituals, how to spot them in real time, and how to cope. Stay tuned. Part of our Healing for the Holidays series

#grief #depression #healing #mentalhealth #mentalwellness #familyestrangement #trauma #ptsd #estrangement #narcissisticabuse #loss ...

Grief and depression are often treated as the same thing—but they’re not. And confusing the two can leave people feeling broken, misdiagnosed, or deeply misunderstood.

In this special Christmas Eve “Healing for the Holidays” episode of When the Bough Breaks, Alexis explores the nuanced differences between grief and depression, where they overlap, and why so many people struggle to name what they’re actu...

Coach, author and speaker Janice Selbie shares her experience of divorcing her religion and the family estrangement that soon followed. 

• https://www.divorcing-religion.com/
• https://www.shamelesssexuality.org/
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGhyTXTIM9kdTJ1jW-Ckb5g  

People can write to Janice at Janice@divorcing-religion.com 

Her book entitled Divorcing Religion: A Memoir and Survival Handbook https://www.amazon...

Though our guest Alexander Desmerais suffered the most vile of childhood traumas, and continues to be estranged from any meaningful family bonds, he has developed a productive approach to life that should serve as an example to all of us. He reminds us that no matter how terrible an experience, it is temporary. He goes on to teach us that trauma is as impermanent as we’re willing to do the work to make it.

...Alexander Desmara...

Sometimes the caterpillar blossoms into a butterfly, only for circumstances to remind her that her wings came too late. Kreed Revere shares the story of how estrangement from her daughters forced her to embark on a courageous journey of transformation. Sadly, she’s learning that some damage can’t be undone by doing everything differently. Still, she remains hopeful that the sincerity of her approach will open the door t...

When the Bough Breaks Podcast welcomes the one and only Seth Andrews


When Seth isn't busy being just a normal good looking guy with great voice, beautiful family and cute dogs, Seth is a podcaster, author and host of The Thinking Atheist Podcast. Seth guests on WTBB to open up about his estrangement experience surrounding his family's faith and offers encouraging words to our hosts and listeners.

To learn more a...

Special guest Dave Warnock of “Dying out Loud” shares his story of de-conversion, estrangement and his fatal  ALS diagnosis. Dave shares with us the importance of living our best life even while estranged and living with a debilitating and fatal disease. 

You can learn more about Dave by clicking the link below. 

www.daveoutloud.com

Other resources
https://clergyproject.org
https://www.recoveri...

 After her father unjustifiably called CPS on her... THREE TIMES,  Briar shares with us how to cope as well as thrive after estrangement. Briar also shares her view on forgiveness and how it had led to a thriving life helping others cope with similar trauma and loss.

If you would like more information about this guest, please click the link below or send us and email at wtbbpodcast@gmail.com

http://www....