Toxic people think you're holding a grudge when you're actually just holding a boundary.

My name is Andrea, and this is it all child.

What's you're holding on to? Welcome back to deep down to Just let it all go.

What's making you slow now?

Let it all go.

Welcome back to a adult child, where we take a deep dive into the impact of growing up in a dysfunctional family.

Ahoy, my dear shit shows.

For any new listeners, my name is Andrea.

I am a total incomplete shit show.

I'm an adult child of a dysfunctional family,

which I realized after dating two alcoholics named Brian back to back,

if you've not heard that story,

you need to go listen to my very first episode. It is required listening around here. Uh, so welcome aboard this hot mess of a ship. We curse here.

You've been warned. So today, folks, we are diving deep with Dr. Peter Salerno. He is a psychologist

who specializes in personality disorders. And he is the author of several books, but his two most recent books are the ones that we are discussing in this conversation.

Number one, the nature and nurture of narcissism, understanding narcissistic personality disorder from the perspective of gene environment interaction.

And two, cruelty by nature, the science of

intentional abuse rooted in biology. And so the overall premise of both of these books and what

makes Peter stand out in the field of personality disorders is his theory in what causes them. So he does not believe that

childhood trauma causes personality disorders, but rather it is driven by biological and

trait-based factors. And while he does believe that childhood trauma can play a role,

it can be a factor, he also believes that someone could develop a

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