Lemon Moms: A Guide to Understand and Survive Maternal Narcissism

Product Description

Confusing or hurtful behavior?

Is your relationship with your mother hurtful or less than satisfying? Does she threaten or intimidate you? Do you strive for her withheld love, affection, acceptance or attention? If so, you can learn how to stop focusing on your mother and take back your life. Let Diane Metcalf, survivor of narcissistic victim syndrome, show you how.

Me Too

For as long as I can remember, there was something “different” about my mother. She wasn’t like other mothers.
By the time I was in middle school, I’d met a lot of moms, and I’d witnessed their interactions with their kids. My mom didn’t act like them; she didn’t relate to me the way they did with their kids. She didn’t hug or kiss me. She didn’t smile at, spend time with, or play with me. She didn’t seem happy to see me. She didn’t ask about my school day, and she wasn’t interested in knowing my friends. She seemed to have no interest in me or anything that I did.

No boundaries, name-calling, invalidation, neglect

I stayed up as late as I wanted. I was expected to care for my younger siblings, and was blamed and sometimes punished for their misbehavior.
I was not allowed to openly express feelings, ask questions, or show initiative or curiosity. My feelings were discounted, minimized or invalidated. Asking questions or taking action meant I was challenging mother, and that was not tolerated. She re-wrote my memories and I was expected to believe her version. I was to obey, stay quiet and not question.
My mom called me hurtful names and obscenities, and at times she ignored me, not speaking to me for days, weeks, even months at a time.
I call these kinds of mothers “lemon moms.” They parent mainly by manipulating, guilting, shaming, blaming, humiliating and/or belittling. They lack the ability to properly bond with and emotionally nurture their children. The children grow up feeling “not good enough,” unloved, misunderstood, unimportant, and like they don’t really matter.
In dysfunctional families, there’s an unspoken rule: don’t talk, don’t trust, don’t feel. As an adult, I was done living by those rules. I started an ongoing journey to find healing and peace.
If any part of this sounds familiar, you are not alone. If there’s a pattern of manipulation, power struggles, or cruelty in your relationship, this book can help make sense of it. If you find yourself second-guessing your memory, doubting your judgment or sanity, or you’re continually seeking your mother’s withheld affection, attention, or approval, this book can explain why.

If your relationship feels hurtful or unhealthy, there is something you can do about it.

Until now, you had two choices: live on her terms (focusing on her, chasing after her withheld love and acceptance) or go “no contact.” I suggest that you have a third option: allow me to walk with you through the chaos and confusion that is maternal narcissism. I’ll show you how to decode the crazy-making behavior and take back your power.
You’ll learn how to:

identify signs of complex trauma
identify and understand the purpose of gas lighting
understand the differences between PTSD and C-PTSD
remove drama
set enforceable boundaries
identify and shut down manipulation
strategize conversations to flow the way you want
and more!

Use the end-of-chapter “Action Steps” to gain insight and write notes (or use the Lemon Moms Companion Workbook)What’s stopping you from beginning YOUR healing ? Take back your life! Scroll up and get this book today!

Review

What readers are saying

“If your mother criticizes the very way you breathe, but treats you like you’re being too sensitive, you may have a Lemon Mom.

While the title of this book playfully refers to those surviving maternal narcissism as having “lemon moms,” a play-off on lemon or defective vehicles, this is some serious information. Metcalf treats the reader as an intelligent friend, guiding them through experiences that as a child the reader may hav