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Narcissism Is Everywhere: Childhood Trauma, Toxic Leadership, Power & AI
Trigger warning: This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma, narcissistic and emotional abuse, substance use, overdose, politics, and other potentially difficult subjects.
What happens when a conversation about narcissistic parents becomes a conversation about narcissism everywhere?
In this special live episode of Beyond Mommy Dearest, Noelani sits down again with Chris Van Linda (@hype.r.vigilance) for an unscripted conversation about growing up with narcissistic and emotionally unhealthy parents, the long-term effects of childhood trauma, and how those same dynamics can show up in workplaces, leadership, technology, culture, and systems of power.
Noelani and Chris explore something many survivors struggle to put into words: why success doesn't always feel like success.
When you've spent childhood learning that your accomplishments belong to someone else, that your role is to please, perform, fix, or remain dependent, adulthood can bring a complicated relationship with achievement. Even objectively successful people may struggle to feel pride, ownership, or satisfaction in what they've accomplished.
They discuss self-sabotage, enmeshment, learned helplessness, family roles, identity, and the process of asking: “Is this actually what I want, or is this who I learned I needed to be?”
The conversation then moves beyond the family system.
What happens when narcissistic behaviors are rewarded in workplaces, corporations, politics, technology, and other positions of power? Noelani and Chris discuss narcissism in executive leadership, trauma-informed organizations, AI and technology, surveillance, cultural norms, fear, social change, and the importance of recognizing how interpersonal dynamics can become systemic ones.
They also explore the uncertainty many people are feeling right now and why naming fear, anger, sadness, hope, joy, and everything in between matters.
This is a wide-ranging, candid conversation about narcissism, trauma, identity, power, technology, culture, and ultimately, reclaiming ownership of your life.
In this episode:
- Growing up with narcissistic and emotionally unhealthy parents
- Why male survivors need to be part of the conversation
- Stage-parent dynamics and children being treated as extensions of their parents
- Why survivors sometimes struggle to feel successful
- Self-sabotage and learned helplessness
- Enmeshment and reclaiming your identity
- Family roles beyond the scapegoat and golden child
- Narcissism in leadership and workplace culture
- Trauma-informed executive leadership
- Why narcissistic behavior can sometimes be rewarded professionally
- Narcissism, power, politics, and cultural systems
- AI, technology, surveillance, and the people creating these systems
- Fear and uncertainty in periods of rapid social change
- Finding your voice after growing up afraid
- Choosing what matters to you and taking action
- Reclaiming your life as your own
Connect with Chris:
Connect with Noelani | Beyond Mommy Dearest
Beyond Mommy Dearest explores the impact of narcissistic and emotionally immature parenting and what it takes to heal, break generational cycles, rebuild self-trust, and come home to yourself.
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