Behaviors as Brilliant Adaptations with Sally Maslansky {EP 249}
Content warning: This episode includes discussion of severe trauma, abuse (including sexual abuse), dissociation, and suicidal ideation. Please take care while listening and pause if needed.
In today’s episode, Robyn is joined by therapist, author, and adoptive parent Sally Maslansky to explore dissociative identity disorder through the lens of interpersonal neurobiology, attachment, and compassion. Together, they unpack how even the most confusing and baffling behaviors- ours and our children’s – can be understood as brilliant adaptations rooted in survival.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- Why dissociative identity disorder can be understood as a brilliant adaptation to overwhelming early trauma
- How making sense of our own histories (especially implicit memory and attachment wounds) changes the way we parent and repair ruptures with our kids.
- What it looks like, in real life, to heal through connection, compassion, and feeling truly felt– and how these experiences invite our attachment systems to move toward security
Resources Mentioned on the Podcast
- A Brilliant Adaptation by Sally Maslansky
- Virtual event with Sally Maslansky hosted by GAINS on January 21
Listen on the Podcast
This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.
Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.
Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’
Robyn
Author of National Best Selling Book (including audiobook) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies that Really Work
- Grieving as a Parent with a History of Trauma: Part 6 of 6 {EP 255} - March 3, 2026
- Identifying Your Triggers as a Parent with a History of Trauma: Part 5 of 6 {EP 254} - February 24, 2026
- Caring for your Own Watchdog & Possum as a Parent with a History of Trauma: Part 4 of 6 {EP 253} - February 17, 2026
