STOP LETTING YOUR PAST RUN THE SHOW.
Your early rules shaped you, and now they’re running your life on autopilot. The beliefs that helped you survive childhood are still driving your perfectionism, anxiety, and burnout as an adult.
Your childhood shaped how you learned to survive, but healing means learning there’s more to you than what you had to be back then.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In Unpacked: How to Detach From the Subconscious Beliefs That Are Sabotaging Your Life, licensed psychotherapist and author Kristen Jacobsen, LCPC pulls back the curtain on how early emotional conditioning quietly dictates your adult behavior. Blending personal reflection with clinical experience, she walks readers through the hidden ways childhood dynamics shape anxiety, burnout, and the relentless pressure to perform.
This book examines how patterns like:
Overachieving to prove you’re enough
Saying “yes” to keep the peace
Shutting down to avoid disappointment
Criticizing yourself before anyone else can
…aren’t personality quirks, they’re defense mechanisms your nervous system learned long ago to stay safe.
Whether you’ve spent years in therapy or you’re just starting to question why success still feels hollow, Unpacked helps you:
Trace how your subconscious beliefs were formed and reinforced
Understand how your body’s stress response became your default mode
Spot the emotional “rules” you’re still following without realizing it
Learn practical, research-backed tools to rewire those old scripts
Drawing from real client stories and guided exercises, Kristen shows how insight alone isn’t enough, you need integration. Unpacked gives you the tools to stop over-managing symptoms and start healing the roots of them.
If you’re ready to stop running your adult life on childhood programming, this book helps you finally disconnect from the patterns that no longer serve you.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
How the emotional rules you grew up with still influence how you show up, at work, in relationships, and inside your own head.
Why patterns like people-pleasing, perfectionism, or emotional shutdown aren’t personal weaknesses, they’re the protective strategies your younger self once needed to survive.
Straightforward, evidence-based tools to quiet the mental noise, regulate your nervous system, and start living from a sense of trust instead of tension.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kristen Jacobsen, LCPC is a licensed therapist, speaker, author, and coach who helps high-achieving adults untangle the subconscious beliefs driving their anxiety, perfectionism, and burnout. She’s known for her clear, no-nonsense way of explaining why smart, capable people still end up overwhelmed, and how to actually change it.
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