Dr. Anna Lembke

And so all of these things that people have a craving for, you know, authenticity, someone they can relate to, someone familiar. I mean, keep in mind, too, that more and more people live alone and have maybe fewer close contacts. So a person like you with a regular show that they tune into regularly, you become – you're in their living room. You're not just some distant celebrity.

Your voice is there. Your face is there. They feel they know you because they've seen you in all these different situations. And I think that's really natural and normal and not a bad thing. So you just have to realize when you go out into the world. you know, you become a symbol for people. They're projecting onto you.

Your voice is there. Your face is there. They feel they know you because they've seen you in all these different situations. And I think that's really natural and normal and not a bad thing. So you just have to realize when you go out into the world. you know, you become a symbol for people. They're projecting onto you.

You don't have to necessarily identify with that, but it's okay to let them have, you know, their experience through you, if that makes any sense.

You don't have to necessarily identify with that, but it's okay to let them have, you know, their experience through you, if that makes any sense.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

That's amazing.

Oh, no, they feel that they're there. And again, you know, the guests are totally secondary because they're watching because they're identifying with you. And the questions that you ask, as you yourself said, are questions that you anticipate they would want to ask, right? You said that. So you are also channeling them.

Oh, no, they feel that they're there. And again, you know, the guests are totally secondary because they're watching because they're identifying with you. And the questions that you ask, as you yourself said, are questions that you anticipate they would want to ask, right? You said that. So you are also channeling them.

Well, you know, there's this whole sort of area of the addiction field called codependency. And codependency refers to the ways in which a loved one of the addicted person can actually enable or make their addiction worse without realizing it and without intending to. And the way that essentially happens is that we can – well, number one, addiction is very often a family systems problem.

Well, you know, there's this whole sort of area of the addiction field called codependency. And codependency refers to the ways in which a loved one of the addicted person can actually enable or make their addiction worse without realizing it and without intending to. And the way that essentially happens is that we can – well, number one, addiction is very often a family systems problem.

So the person who gets addicted, their addiction affects everybody in the family. And in order to cope and compensate, families can end up in these very strange, maladaptive places.

So the person who gets addicted, their addiction affects everybody in the family. And in order to cope and compensate, families can end up in these very strange, maladaptive places.

But they often have difficulty seeing how to get out of those situations or how their behavior is harming their addicted loved one because in a sense, they themselves get addicted to the addicted person and then use that addicted person to regulate the way that they feel. So for example, I treat a lot of families where like the adult child is deep in their addiction and

But they often have difficulty seeing how to get out of those situations or how their behavior is harming their addicted loved one because in a sense, they themselves get addicted to the addicted person and then use that addicted person to regulate the way that they feel. So for example, I treat a lot of families where like the adult child is deep in their addiction and

The parents know that the money they're giving the child is mostly going to drugs and yet cannot bring themselves to stop giving the money.

The parents know that the money they're giving the child is mostly going to drugs and yet cannot bring themselves to stop giving the money.

And often they're manipulated by the child, the child saying, well, the adult child saying something like, well, if you don't give me money for drugs, I'm going to go get it off the streets and it's going to be laced with fentanyl and then I'm going to die and it's going to be on your hands. So this kind of like emotional hostage taking.