Adult Child

The Nervous System Side of Attachment: Understanding Anxiety, Avoidance & Safety Through the Body w/ Heidi Priebe


Listen Later

You’re not needy. You’re not detached. You’re just wired for survival. This episode reveals how your nervous system learned to love — and what it takes to rewire safety.

Heidi Priebe is a YouTuber, writer, and educator with a master’s degree in attachment theory who’s built a massive following for her honest, body-based approach to healing. She grew up being labeled the “difficult child,” internalizing the belief that something was wrong with her long before anyone recognized the impact of emotional neglect. Her lifelong effort to make sense of that pain led her to study how attachment and the nervous system shape the way we connect, cope, and seek safety.

✨ What this episode explores:

▪️How Attachment Lives in the Body — Why anxious and avoidant patterns aren’t personality flaws but survival strategies wired through early experiences of distress and safety.

▪️Emotional Neglect as Conditioning — How inconsistent or rejecting caregiving trains the body to either amplify emotion to be seen or shut it down to stay safe.

▪️Anxious vs. Avoidant Regulation — Why one nervous system ramps up while the other goes numb and how both are rooted in the same need for connection.

▪️Perfectionism as Avoidant Attachment in Disguise — How chronic self-criticism and the drive to “get it right” are often nervous system attempts to earn belonging.

▪️The Window of Tolerance — How to recognize when you’re inside or outside of regulation, and design your environment to stay within it more often.

▪️Healing Attachment Through the Body — Why real recovery requires nervous system work and learning to feel safe in connection, not just think differently about it.


⚓JOIN THE SHITSHOW — The Adult Child Healing Community

6 weekly Zoom support groups · Discussion boards · Peer connection

👉 theshitshow.mn.co


🗞️ SIGN UP FOR SHITSHOW NATION

Get the newsletter for community updates, healing insights & early access to workshops.

➡️ Join here


💁‍♀️ SUPPORT THE POD

 Buy Me a Coffee – help Andrea (and her cats) eat

🛍️ Shop Shitshow Merch


💬 CONNECT WITH ANDREA

Instagram → @adultchildpod

TikTok → @adultchildpod

YouTube → @adultchildpod


SPONSORS

Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild

Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD

Check out Happy Mammoth, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 15% off happymammoth.com.

Check out SiderAL, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 10% off https://pharmanutra-us.com/

Check out Bioma for 15% of your order gobioma.com/adultchild



Our Sponsors:
* Check out Bioma Health and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://gobioma.com/ADULTCHILD
* Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD
* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://happymammoth.com
* Check out PharmaNutra and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://pharmanutra-us.com
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Adult ChildBy Andrea Ashley

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

1,813 ratings


More shows like Adult Child

View all
The Trauma Therapist by Guy Crawford Macpherson

The Trauma Therapist

534 Listeners

Therapy Chat by Laura Reagan, LCSW-C

Therapy Chat

677 Listeners

The Recovery Show » Finding serenity through 12 step recovery in Al-Anon – a podcast by The Recovery Show

The Recovery Show » Finding serenity through 12 step recovery in Al-Anon – a podcast

1,602 Listeners

The Terri Cole Show by Terri Cole

The Terri Cole Show

1,398 Listeners

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson by Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

2,497 Listeners

Therapist Uncensored Podcast by Sue Marriott LCSW, CGP & Ann Kelley PhD

Therapist Uncensored Podcast

1,388 Listeners

The Michelle Chalfant Show — Life from the Adult Chair by Michelle Chalfant

The Michelle Chalfant Show — Life from the Adult Chair

1,541 Listeners

The Healing Trauma Podcast by Monique Koven

The Healing Trauma Podcast

449 Listeners

The One Inside: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) podcast by Tammy Sollenberger

The One Inside: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) podcast

290 Listeners

Lisa A Romano Breakdown to Breakthroughs by Lisa A. Romano

Lisa A Romano Breakdown to Breakthroughs

777 Listeners

Trauma Rewired by Jennifer Wallace & Elisabeth Kristof

Trauma Rewired

339 Listeners

Navigating Narcissism with Dr. Ramani by iHeartPodcasts

Navigating Narcissism with Dr. Ramani

1,728 Listeners

The Crappy Childhood Fairy Podcast with Anna Runkle by Anna Runkle

The Crappy Childhood Fairy Podcast with Anna Runkle

345 Listeners

Our Whole Childhood with Patrick Teahan by Patrick Teahan

Our Whole Childhood with Patrick Teahan

304 Listeners

Mother Mayhem: For Daughters of Narcissistic or Emotionally Limited Mothers by Heather Gray, LICSW

Mother Mayhem: For Daughters of Narcissistic or Emotionally Limited Mothers

211 Listeners