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Aug 23
1h 31m

EPISODE 193: The Parent's Bizarre Obsess...

Dimming The Gaslight
About this episode

Five years ago, Mac was couch-surfing, sleeping in his car, and scrolling Instagram from his dad's basement — and one page stopped him cold: a woman healing out loud from complex trauma. That woman is here today.

We sit down with Dr. Taelor — Doctor of Occupational Therapy, trauma advocate, and founder of Survivors Overcoming Silence (SOS) — for a story she has never told publicly before. This is complex trauma at its most complex: a childhood built on walking on eggshells, a "golden child" competition with a parent who saw her as competition, a national news scandal, false restraining orders, death threats, a grandmother who called her a devil child, a faked cancer diagnosis, and a parent's transition that Taelor says was less about identity and more about becoming her.

We go deep on gaslighting, "destiny swapping," psychological conditioning, and what it actually takes to reclaim your identity after someone spent a lifetime trying to erase it. Fair warning: there's a voicemail in this one that will haunt you.

This one's heavy, it's raw, and it's only 10% of the iceberg — so buckle up, because we're already bringing her back for Part 2.

⚖️ Disclaimer (because our lawyers make us say this): Dimming The Gaslight is based entirely on true events — except for the stuff we totally made up. Names, locations, and other identifying details have been changed. If you think we're talking about you in this podcast… newsflash: you're the narcissist.

Follow Dr. Taelor: @sos.with.doctor.taelor (Instagram/TikTok) | Podcast: Overcoming: The Podcast

Follow us: @dimming_the_gaslight
Join us on Patreon | Discord | DTG Merch Store | dimmingthegaslight.com

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