Oct 12, 2026 · 52 min · 19 segments
HELP US WIN A SIGNAL AWARD - VOTE FOR THE TAMSEN SHOW HERE Why do we keep choosing emotionally unavailable partners? And why is it so hard to break unhealthy…
Tamsen FadalHost
Well, I'm so glad you didn't because I, you know, I went through the book, and I, I went, everything about this, and especially attachment theories, which I wanna get into 'cause I think that that's a, just a real sweet spot for you talking throughout the book and what my audience is always asking about, are so important.

Because whether you're in your 20s, your 30s, your 40s, your 50s, 60, whatever it is, you, you know what that feels like when you're either rejected, or you don't know why you feel like this, or you just can't sort it out, and you're repeating those same patterns over and over.

You know, after I went through my divorce, I went, "What is go- Who a- why am I like this?" And I really had to pay attention, but I didn't even know I was asking myself that question.

So a lot of women are quietly asking themselves that, "Why am I like this?" Whether they're in a relationship or they're dating or wherever they are in between.

What do you say to them? Why was that the question that you saw repeated over and over?
I think because fundamentally the first place that we go is, "What's wrong with me?"
As a child, you don't know how to process it, so then you go intellectualize.
If we're talking, I love IFS, internal family systems, um, it's just a modality of therapy I enjoy, and if we're talking about parts, we've got all these different parts, and they're all running the show.
And so I think for me, I kept asking, "Why am I like this? What is wrong with me?"
"What is going on?" I felt like what is wrong with me might have been a little too harsh.

Well, I'm so glad you didn't because I, you know, I went through the book, and I, I went, everything about this, and especially attachment theories, which I wanna get into 'cause I think that that's a, just a real sweet spot for you talking throughout the book and what my audience is always asking about, are so important.

Because whether you're in your 20s, your 30s, your 40s, your 50s, 60, whatever it is, you, you know what that feels like when you're either rejected, or you don't know why you feel like this, or you just can't sort it out, and you're repeating those same patterns over and over.

You know, after I went through my divorce, I went, "What is go- Who a- why am I like this?" And I really had to pay attention, but I didn't even know I was asking myself that question.

So a lot of women are quietly asking themselves that, "Why am I like this?" Whether they're in a relationship or they're dating or wherever they are in between.

What do you say to them? Why was that the question that you saw repeated over and over?
I think because fundamentally the first place that we go is, "What's wrong with me?"
As a child, you don't know how to process it, so then you go intellectualize.
If we're talking, I love IFS, internal family systems, um, it's just a modality of therapy I enjoy, and if we're talking about parts, we've got all these different parts, and they're all running the show.
And so I think for me, I kept asking, "Why am I like this? What is wrong with me?"
"What is going on?" I felt like what is wrong with me might have been a little too harsh.
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