In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Natalie Faber to explore a question I often return to: What if a narcissistic family system operates like a cult?

When we hear the word cult, it can conjure images of something extreme, distant, or dramatic, something that happens to other people. But what if a cult simply describes a system. A system where one person’s reality becomes the only acceptable reality. Where it’s “my way or the highway.” Where you’re trained to question yourself, but never the person in charge.

We’ll talk about how these systems are upheld through conditional love, inconsistent rules, and roles that determine your worth based on how well you perform. While education often focuses on the narcissist’s behaviour, this conversation looks beyond the individual to the wider system that protects and maintains the dynamic.

Using real-life examples, we explore how the psychological dynamics of cults and narcissistic families can be strikingly similar.

Dr. Natalie Faber joins us from the Lalich Center on Cults and Coercion, where she serves on the board of directors and oversees continuing education for clinicians. She is an associate teaching professor of psychology at Arizona State University and a licensed psychologist in private practice, specialising in work with survivors of cultic abuse, spiritual and religious abuse, and coercive control.

If you grew up in a family where love felt conditional and you became hyper-vigilant, constantly monitoring and managing your narcissistic parent’s moods. Where you learned not to trust your own mind, and self-doubt became second nature, where obedience felt like survival in a home that trained you to question yourself but never the person in charge! Then this episode offers a powerful new lens for understanding what you lived through, and why it was never your fault.

Dr. Natalie Fabert

Lalich Center on Cults and Coercion

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BEYOND SURVIVAL - The Therapy Podcast

In this episode, I explore the trauma responses many of us developed just to survive childhood and why they still show up in our adult lives.

I’ll break down the main trauma responses, the core wounds they originate from, and how these patterns are shaped by growing up with narcissistic parents.

I’ll also walk you through the four types of narcissistic parents and how each one impacts a child’s nervous system, sense of self, and relationships, and why your responses were never flaws, they were there survival responses!

Most importantly, we’ll talk about healing: how to begin meeting the wounds underneath your trauma responses with compassion, safety, and choice, rather than shame. This episode is for anyone who has ever asked, “Why do I react this way?” and is ready to move beyond survival and into self-trust and emotional freedom

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BEYOND SURVIVAL - The Therapy Podcast

This week, I'm unpacking one of the most common yet misunderstood experiences for adult children of narcissistic abuse: Narcissistic Parentification.

I’ll walk through the different roles the children are cast into; Scapegoat Child, Golden Child, Enmeshed / Gilded Child, The Invisible Child, and how these roles profoundly shape your relationships, boundaries, identity, and sense of self today.

By understanding the dynamics behind the role you were assigned, you can finally challenge the narratives that kept you small and start healing on your own terms.

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BEYOND SURVIVAL - The Therapy Podcast