As a child, were you made to feel like your feelings didn’t matter, while your parents’ feelings loomed large? Were your boundaries repeatedly crossed? Were you emotionally neglected? If so, you may have been raised by emotionally immature parents.

In this episode Andrew talks to TikTok's popular healing transformation coach Dr. Kai Tai Kevin Qiu, the author of Emotionally Immature Parents: A Recovery Workbook for Adult Children.

Andrew and Kai discuss:

• How to know if your parents were emotionally immature.

• Creating boundaries in the present day

• Processing difficult memories

• Developing a non-judgmental approach towards yourself, others and even your parents.

Dr Kai Tai Kevin Qiu is the founder of Boundaries to Freedom, a healing transformation coach, digital nomad, and digital creator. His holistic and practical approach is based on his experience studying medicine, personal development, positive psychology, Buddhism, and spirituality. He is a first generation Chinese-Canadian currently living part-time in Thailand, Canada, and Europe.

Subscriber Content This Week

If you’re a subscriber to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Patreon), this week you’ll be hearing:

• Setting consequences if your parents can't stay within the boundaries.

• Three things Dr Kai Tai Kevin Qiu knows to be true.

• AND subscribers also access all of our previous bonus content - a rich trove of insight on love, life and meaning created by Andrew and his interviewees.

Follow Up

Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things

Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools

Visit Dr Kai’s website

Get Dr Kai’s book Emotionally Immature Parents: A Recovery Workbook for Adult Children

Take Dr Kai’s Am I Emotionally Immature Quiz

Follow Dr Kai on Instagram and TikTok @hicoachkai

Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall

Gaslighting is an insidious form of emotional abuse in which a gaslighter undermines and controls another person by deflecting, twisting, and denying their reality. Gaslighting leaves victims second-guessing themselves, unable to make decisions and destabilised by constant shifts in reality.

In this week’s episode, Andrew talks to author and psychoanalyst Dr Robin Stern about gaslighting, and how to pull yourself out of this form of emotional abuse. Andrew and Robin discuss what makes you vulnerable to gaslighting, how to build your capacity to trust yourself, and how to identify the gaslight effect in different relationships. Robin also shares her personal experiences of gaslighting.

Dr Robin Stern co-founded the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence with Marc Brackett and currently serves as the senior advisor to the director. She is the author of The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life, and a follow-up workbook edition, The Gaslight Effect Recovery Guide. She launched The Gaslight Effect Podcast in 2022.

Subscriber Content This Week

If you’re a subscriber to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Patreon), this week you’ll be hearing:

• Gaslighting in the workplace.
• Three things Dr Robin Stern knows to be true.
• AND subscribers also access all of our previous bonus content - a rich trove of insight on love, life and meaning created by Andrew and his interviewees.

Follow Up

Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things

Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools

Read Dr Robin Stern’s books The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life, and The Gaslight Effect Recovery Guide.

Visit Dr Robin Stern’s website

Listen to the Gaslight Effect Podcast

Follow Dr Robin Stern on Instagram @dr.robinstern, on Facebook @drrobinstern and Twitter/X @RobinSStern.

Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.

Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall

Sex and pornography addiction is on the rise. It can affect young and old, rich and poor, male and female. Those who are in the grip of this type of addiction struggle to create and maintain "real-life" relationships, and their partners may experience feelings of grief and betrayal.

In this episode Andrew talks with psychotherapist Dr Paula Hall about pornography and sex addiction. Andrew and Paula discuss:

• What we mean by “addiction” in this context.
• How pornography can wreck a couple’s sex life.
• Starting your recovery.
• Moving forward as a couple if one of you has a pornography or sex addiction.

Dr Paula Hall is the founder of the Laurel Centre, and the author of 4 books on sex and porn addiction, as well as two Relate Guides, and Improving Your Relationship for Dummies. Her most recent venture is founding the not-for-profit organisation, Pivotal Recovery, to provide anonymous, accessible, professional self-help for people struggling with sex and porn addiction.

Subscriber Content This Week

If you’re a subscriber to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Patreon), this week you’ll be hearing:

• New life after addiction.
• Three things Paula Hall knows to be true.
• AND subscribers also access all of our previous bonus content - a rich trove of insight on love, life and meaning created by Andrew and his interviewees.

Follow Up

Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things

Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools.

Read Dr Paula Hall’s books, including Sex Addiction: The Partner’s Perspective and Sex Addiction: A Guide for Couples and Those Who Help Them.

Visit the Laurel Centre website for resources on pornography and sex addiction, including videos, articles, courses and counselling options. ​

Watch the video The Road to Brighton, which is discussed in this episode.

Visit the Pivotal Recovery website for an affordable, online therapy-based programme to quit porn addiction, sex addiction and compulsive sexual behaviours.

Follow Dr Paula Hall on Twitter/X @paulahall_psych.

Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.

Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall