What happens when you spend your life reading everyone else’s emotions but feel disconnected from your own? What’s the cost of peacekeeping at the expense of your truth?
In this episode of the Your Own Medicine Podcast, I sit down with licensed psychotherapist Meg Josephson, whose new book Are You Mad at Me? comes out August 5th. We explore the fawn response—the lesser-known survival strategy characterized by overthinking, chronic conflict avoidance, and compulsive people-pleasing.
Meg shares her personal story, including the impact of growing up with a rageful father and a mother with Alzheimer's, and how these shaped her fawning patterns. We also discuss:
Anger, grief, and nervous system healing
The pressures of self-disclosure in a digital world
Boundaries that feel good in the body
Writing about trauma with integrity
Why fawning is more than just “being nice”—it’s a trauma response
This is an honest, grounded, and tender conversation about what it means to reclaim your needs, your body, and your voice—especially when you’ve been wired to abandon them.
📖 Preorder Are You Mad at Me?: https://megjosephson.com
🎧 Learn more about my current offerings: https://kalisomatics.com/SHED