Is Emotional Neglect Abusive? [Episode 384]
August 18, 2026
Let’s talk about emotional neglect. Can we really categorize this as “abuse?”
I say we can, and in today’s episode, I’m going to tell you why.
Let’s talk about emotional neglect. Can we really categorize this as “abuse?”
I say we can, and in today’s episode, I’m going to tell you why.
This is part two of our series on the subtle gaslighting tactics emotional abusers and narcissists use in Christian marriage. You’ll hear four more specific examples of what he says, why he says it, what it triggers in you, and the precise words to say back so the tactic stops working on you for good.
Today we’ll talk about one of the most disorienting experiences Christian women in emotionally abusive marriages face: gaslighting.
But we aren’t going to just define what gaslighting is. I’m going to break it down into all the tiny parts and give you some specific stories so you can see exactly what’s going on and WHY.
You’ll learn three specific tactics gaslighters use, why they use them, and what you can do to stay grounded in your own reality when someone is working hard to pull you out of it.
Episode 42 is a different kind of episode. No topic, no script. Just Diana and me sitting down for a conversation about what’s happening in our lives right now and what’s coming next for this podcast.
Life changes fast, even for the women who help other women navigate life’s hardest changes.
Tia Levings is the New York Times bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife and her newest book, I Belong to Me. She survived a Christian patriarchy cult, escaped a near murder-suicide, was excommunicated for telling her own story, and spent 15 years in intensive trauma therapy doing the work to put herself back together. Now she’s handing you the map to healing from religious trauma.
In this episode, Tia and I dig into the real mechanics of religious trauma recovery: why your body refuses to believe you’re safe even when your brain knows it, what “aftermath” actually means (it’s an agricultural word, and it will change how you see your own devastation), why grief work is not optional, and what agency has to do with the entire trajectory of your healing.
Last week was the why. This week is the what now. In Part 2 of this conversation, Natalie Hoffman and Diana Swillinger get practical about what it actually takes to move your nervous system from a state of constant threat management into something that feels like real life. And they go somewhere unexpected: the resistance to joy itself.
This is not a list of lofty advice. These are specific, doable practices that teach your body moment by moment that it is safe to let its guard down. There is also a deeper question: is “survival mode” even still the right story for where you are now?