Relationship Dish

"Narcissist" has become a buzzword—and that can get messy fast. In this episode of Relationship Dish, Pam and Iona aren't diagnosing anyone… but they are digging into narcissistic traits and how they show up in real relationships, from subtle emotional neglect to full-blown "nothing is ever my fault" dynamics. Iona shares from personal experience—and her graduate school research—about growing up in a covertly narcissistic family system, where self-absorption, emotional abuse, and unmet needs shaped the blueprint for love. Pam opens up about her first relationship with someone who was thin-skinned, validation-hungry, and unable to take responsibility—someone who needed to be right, admired, and centered at all costs. Together, they explore how people raised in narcissistic family systems often try to fulfill the unmet needs of their childhoods through a partner—and sometimes end up treating that partner exactly the way they were treated growing up. They also unpack the "passion trap": how the intensity of a na