{"podcast":{"title":"Divorce Happens","slug":"divorce-happens-6931880","podcast_index_feed_id":6931880,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/divorce-happens/","website_url":"https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/divorce-happens","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/4ef67130-0ef6-4ddc-8223-01a75a67ba34/show-cover.jpg","author":"Fresh Starts Registry","episode_count":254,"summary":"Welcome to Divorce Happens, the podcast where we inspire, educate, and support you through divorce and beyond so that you can start fresh on the next phase of your journey. Produced by Fresh Starts Registry, the only divorce registry platform for everything you need to begin again, including home items, hype team, and everything in between. Remember, divorce happens...and then, we start fresh. We're here to support you before, during, and after divorce. Hosted by Olivia Dreizen Howell, the co-founder and CEO of Fresh Starts Registry.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-16T10:17:32.089801+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/divorce-happens-6931880"},"episode":{"title":"Hey Olivia, Why Do I Feel So Much Guilt When I Think About Leaving My Emotionally Abusive Husband?","slug":"hey-olivia-why-do-i-feel-so-much-guilt-when-i-think-about-leaving-my-emotionally-abusive-husband","published_at":"2026-06-02T18:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/divorce-happens-6931880/hey-olivia-why-do-i-feel-so-much-guilt-when-i-think-about-leaving-my-emotionally-abusive-husband","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/divorce-happens-6931880","url":"https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/divorce-happens","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/0fe74ff8-c3cd-4645-9cf0-4bec3dfb0aec.mp3","summary":"If you’ve ever sat with the thought of leaving an emotionally abusive relationship and felt, instead of relief, a wave of guilt — this episode is for you. Not the guilt of someone who is doing something wrong. The guilt of someone who has been so thoroughly conditioned to put themselves last that the simple act of imagining their own freedom feels like a betrayal. In this deeply compassionate and psychologically grounded solo episode of Divorce Happens, host Olivia Howell names that specific, gut-wrenching feeling and does something more valuable than tell you to push past it: she explains exactly where it comes from. Because understanding the source of the guilt — really understanding it — is what begins to loosen its grip. Olivia walks through two of the most important and most misunderstood psychological realities of emotionally abusive relationships. The first: that the guilt survivors feel when they consider leaving is not their conscience speaking. It is the abuse speaking. Emotional abuse works, in part, by systematically training its target to feel responsible for the abuser’s feelings, reactions, and pain — so that any act of self-prioritization triggers shame. The second: trauma bonding. Olivia explains in clear, accessible terms why the brain forms a powerful attachment to an abusive partner through cycles of tension, cruelty, and relief — and why knowing a relationship is harmful is entirely compatible with feeling an overwhelming pull to stay. Both of these frameworks offer the same thing: not an excuse, but an explanation. And explanations, offered with warmth and without judgment, have the power to change everything. The episode closes with the section that will hit hardest for parents: the guilt about the children. Olivia speaks directly and without hed…","meta_description":"If you’ve ever sat with the thought of leaving an emotionally abusive relationship and felt, instead of relief, a wave of guilt — this episode is for you.…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":454,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/divorce-happens-6931880/episodes/hey-olivia-why-do-i-feel-so-much-guilt-when-i-think-about-leaving-my-emotionally-abusive-husband/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/divorce-happens-6931880/hey-olivia-why-do-i-feel-so-much-guilt-when-i-think-about-leaving-my-emotionally-abusive-husband.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}