June 07, 2026

What Your Family Called Protection Was Actually Control

1 hour 24 minutes

Let us know what you think!

What your family called protection was actually control.
And most of us spent years - sometimes decades - believing the two were the same thing.
Dr. Pauline Yeghnazar Peck is an Iranian-Armenian psychologist, coach and speaker who specialises in helping daughters of immigrants break cycles and bridge gaps. She grew up as the sensitive child in a family where emotions were seen as a problem. She resisted therapy when her mother died because she thought it was "a white person thing." She became the psychologist she needed. And in this conversation — she named things she has never said publicly before.
In this episode of INSIGHT, Emma Sargsyan sits down with Dr. Pauline for the most honest conversation this show has ever had about guilt, narcissism, shame, women's bodies, abusive relationships and the cost of breaking cycles inside families that do not want to be broken.

WHAT WE COVER
How the overachieving eldest daughter drive becomes a pathway to burnout — and what is actually fueling it
Why the sensitive child in an immigrant family is taught that her emotions are a problem
What happened when her mother died and she refused therapy — and what finally changed
The difference between narcissistic tendencies and narcissistic personality disorder — and why social media is confusing the two
Why guilt is a byproduct of trauma, and how the Armenian Genocide is still transmitting guilt through generations into women alive today
Whether it is possible to love your child and cause them significant psychological harm simultaneously, regularly - without knowing it
What growing up in a family where a woman's body is simultaneously her family's honour and something never discussed does to her relationship with her own body and sexuality
Why shame around sex and the body leaves young women unable to protect themselves
The trauma bond - what it actually is versus how social media uses the term
Why leaving an abusive relationship is sometimes the most dangerous moment
The woman who waited until her father died before she could live the life she wanted
What the overachieving woman who has everything and feels hollow is actually running from
The hardest thing she has had to name in her own family — including something she revealed for the first time in this conversation

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Pauline analyses Emma live
04:00 The survival tactic, you cannot be mediocre
08:00 The sensitive child and what shame does to a seven year old
16:00 Her mother's death and the resistance to therapy
22:00 Narcissism - tendencies versus disorder
29:00 Guilt as a byproduct of the Armenian Genocide
36:00 What is normalised is not always healthy
42:00 Can you love and harm simultaneously
49:00 Overprotection versus resilience
55:00 Women's bodies sexuality and shame
65:00 Purity patriarchy and the outfit in the backpack
70:00 The milestones burden
74:00 Trauma bonds and abusive relationships
84:00 Family approval and intercultural couples
89:00 Unprocessed trauma in the body
94:00 The overachieving woman and conditional love
99:00 The hardest thing she named in her own family
─────────────────────
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
─────────────────────
ABOUT DR. PAULINE YEGHNAZAR PECK
Licensed psychologist, coach and speaker based in Los Angeles. Founder of Noor Therapy and Wellness. Creator of Bridging Gaps Breaking Cycles — a coaching and community program for daughters of immigrants. Follow her at @paulinethepsychologist
─────────────────────
Follow Emma: @emmasargsyan
Podcast: Spotify · Apple Podcasts · I Heart Radio · All major platforms
─────────────────────
#Psychology #MentalHealth #Narcissism #Trauma #ArmenianWomen #IranianAmerican #DaughtersOfImmigrants #BreakingCycles #Therapy #WomensMentalHealth #INSIGHT #EmmaInsight #PaulineYeghnazarPeck #IntergenerationalTrauma #GuiltAndShame