7 Types Of Invalidating Toxic Parents - Role Play

When you reach out for help or support, does the response you get send you spiraling? That reaction may trace back to how validation was handled — or withheld — in your family of origin.

In this video, therapist Patrick Teahan, MSW, uses a series of vivid role plays to demonstrate seven types of invalidating toxic parents. Each scenario shows a child approaching a parent for support and being met with dismissal, deflection, or emotional harm instead. The types include parents who minimize and dismiss (“just power through it”), parents who make everything about themselves, competitive parents who one-up their child’s struggles, anxious parents who spiral instead of helping, advice-giving parents who lecture rather than listen, parents who weaponize vulnerability as gossip, and emotionally volatile parents whose reactions shut the child down entirely.

Patrick explains that at its core, seeking validation is really about asking for help through connection — and childhood trauma is fundamentally about disconnection. When a parent’s response to a child’s need creates shame, fear, or confusion, that child grows into an adult who struggles to seek or receive support. The video explores how these early invalidation patterns show up in adult relationships and offers insight into why even positive feedback can feel threatening for trauma survivors.