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INSIGHTS

Perspectives for Navigating Life's Changes

Dr. Wagner's writing explores the psychological and emotional dimensions of change, relationships, identity, loss, health, aging, and the transitions that shape our lives. These insights offer perspective for understanding what we experience and how we navigate what comes next.

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Explore Dr. Wagner's Complete Collection of Articles and Reflections.

Woman standing before a mirror in a wooded setting, reflecting the relationship between therapist and patient.
When Our Patients Become Our Mirror
Sometimes a patient’s pain touches something deeply familiar in the therapist. In those moments, professional boundaries meet human experience, revealing how our own wounds, when understood and integrated, can deepen our capacity to help others heal.
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Betrayal in family relationships depicted through conflict among adult family members
How Betrayal Evokes Life Transitions, Part lll: Betrayal in Family Relationships
Betrayal within a family can surface when aging parents, death, and inheritance disrupt long-established roles. Dr. Wagner explores how sibling rivalry, unresolved family dynamics, and questions of trust can transform relationships at a time when families are already vulnerable.
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Two parents discussing custody issues with a distraught child on the couch
Cutting The Baby In Half
High-conflict divorce can place children in the middle of their parents’ pain, anger, and disagreements. Deborah Wagner explores how custody battles can affect children—and why protecting them sometimes requires parents to separate their feelings about each other from their love for their children.
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Two women sitting on a curb looking at each other
Victim or Survivor…Your Choice?
How we understand hardship can shape how we move through it. Deborah Wagner explores the psychological distinction between identifying as a victim and seeing oneself as a survivor—and how reclaiming a sense of agency can become an important part of healing.
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Infinity symbols floating above reflective water beneath a glowing sunset
A Therapist’s Epiphany: A Psychological Construct
A therapist’s epiphany can emerge when a familiar psychological idea suddenly becomes personally meaningful. This reflection explores how psychological constructs move from abstract concepts to lived understanding, and how that shift can deepen perspective on ourselves and the experiences we are trying to make sense of.
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Woman sitting alone on the floor while a group stands together nearby
How Betrayal Evokes Life Transitions Part ll
Betrayal can disrupt our understanding of a relationship, another person, and even ourselves. In Part II, Deborah Wagner explores the psychological process of navigating betrayal, making sense of what has changed, and beginning to integrate the experience into the larger framework of our lives.
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Man sitting in a chair with his head resting in his hand
How Betrayal Evokes Life Transitions Part l
Betrayal can disrupt trust, identity, relationships, and our understanding of the life we thought we were living. Deborah Wagner explores how discovering a betrayal can challenge deeply held assumptions and become the beginning of a profound and unexpected life transition.
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Dust storm swirling beneath a dark, stormy sky
Is It Just My Life or Is It Perimenopause?
When life already feels complicated, the emotional changes of perimenopause can be difficult to recognize or separate from everyday stress. Understanding how hormonal changes and life circumstances can interact may help women make sense of what they are experiencing and respond with greater perspective.
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Family walking together along a tree-lined road
The Stories We Tell Part 2
The stories we share near the end of life can become an intimate form of legacy. When families create space for those stories to emerge, they can discover experiences, emotions, and meaning that deepen how they know—and remember—the people they love.
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Psychologist | Author | Expert on Life's Transitions

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