Growing up with a narcissistic mother often means learning to survive in a home where love feels conditional, emotions are unsafe, and your worth depends on how well you meet someone else’s needs. Many women raised in this environment don’t realize the impact until adulthood, when relationships feel confusing, boundaries feel impossible, and their inner world feels shaped more by fear, guilt, or self-doubt than by a sense of safety.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) has become one of the most respected and effective trauma-healing approaches used today, and for good reason. For many women, trauma isn’t stored as a story. It’s stored in the body. It shows up in nervous-system reactions, emotional patterns, self-doubt, fears, and old survival strategies you learned long before you had the words to describe them.

Let’s be honest, finding a therapist can feel a lot like dating. You’re looking for someone who gets you, listens without judgment, and doesn’t flinch when you cry, laugh, or admit that sometimes you Google your symptoms at 2 a.m. But instead of swiping left or right, you’re scrolling through Google results that say “therapist in Rancho Cucamonga” or “counseling near me” and wondering how on earth you’re supposed to pick the one.

Reparenting yourself isn’t about blaming your parents or reliving your entire childhood. It’s about learning how to care for the parts of you that didn’t get what they needed back then, and giving those parts compassion, patience, and the love they deserve now.

You look composed on the outside… the smile, the “I’m fine” … but inside, anxiety is whispering: “What if you fail? What if they judge you? What if something goes wrong?” At Balance & Boundaries Therapy, I see you. I’ve worked with hundreds of women who carry this tension every day, women who struggle with overthinking, guilt, and the relentless pressure to people-please.

Growing up with a narcissistic parent is like learning to walk on a tightrope you never asked to cross. As daughters, many of us were raised to be vigilant, to constantly monitor our emotional terrain, to walk on eggshells… always optimizing ourselves to avoid criticism, blame, or invalidation. It can leave you feeling like you’re never enough, even when you try so hard to be perfect.