Your complimentary audiobook is waiting
Included with free trial
$0.00
  • Free trial includes 1 credit in your first month good for any title of your choice, yours to keep.
  • Plus, you can enjoy unlimited listening to The Plus Catalogue—thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts, and audiobooks.
  • You'll unlock exclusive member-only sales, as well as 30% off your purchases of any additional titles.
  • After 30 days Audible is $14.95/month + applicable taxes. Renews automatically.
Learn more about membership
Sold and delivered by Audible, an 鶹 company
List Price: $15.58
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and 鶹's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.
Sold and delivered by Audible, an 鶹 company
  • Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect
  • To view this video, download

Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Karen White (Narrator), Christine Musello PsyD (Author), Jonice Webb PhD (Author),
4.5 out of 5 stars 4,953 ratings

鶹

' + '' + decodeURIComponent(encodedIframeContent) + ''+''); doc.close(); } } this.iframeload = function () { var iframe = document.getElementById(iframeId); iframe.style.display = ''; setTimeout(function () { setIframeHeight(initialResizeCallback); }, 20); } function getDocHeight(doc) { var contentDiv = doc.getElementById("iframeContent"); var docHeight = 0; if(contentDiv){ docHeight = Math.max( contentDiv.scrollHeight, contentDiv.offsetHeight, contentDiv.clientHeight ); } return docHeight; } function setIframeHeight(resizeCallback) { var iframeDoc, iframe = document.getElementById(iframeId); iframeDoc = ((iframe.contentWindow && iframe.contentWindow.document) || iframe.contentDocument); if (iframeDoc) { var h = getDocHeight(iframeDoc); if (h && h != 0) { iframe.style.height = parseInt(h) + 'px'; if(typeof resizeCallback == "function") { resizeCallback(iframeId); } } else if (nTries < MAX_TRIES) { nTries++; setTimeout(function () { setIframeHeight(resizeCallback); }, 50); } } } this.resizeIframe = function(resizeCallback) { nTries = 0; setIframeHeight(resizeCallback); } } return DynamicIframe; });

Do you sometimes feel as if you're just going through the motions in life? Are you good at looking and acting as if you're fine, but secretly feel lonely and disconnected? If so, you are not alone. The world is full of people who have an innate sense that something is wrong with them - who feel they live on the outside looking in, but have no explanation for this feeling and no way to put it into words.

If you are one of these people, you may fear that you are not connected enough to your spouse, or that you don't feel pleasure or love as profoundly as others do. You may drink too much, or eat too much, or risk too much, in an attempt to feel something good.

Running on Empty will give you clear strategies for how to heal, and offers a special chapter for mental-health professionals. In the world of human suffering, this book is an emotional smart bomb meant to eradicate the effects of an invisible enemy.

Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Listening Length
    7 hours and 46 minutes
  2. Author
    Christine Musello PsyD, see all
  3. Narrator
    Karen White
  4. Audible release date
    June 25 2015
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Tantor Audio
  7. ASIN
    B0725JJPT2
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
Next slide of product details

Product details

Listening Length 7 hours and 46 minutes
Author Christine Musello PsyD, Jonice Webb PhD
Narrator Karen White
Audible.ca Release Date June 25 2015
Publisher Tantor Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B0725JJPT2
鶹 Rank

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4,953 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the content in the book useful and provides hope. They mention it gives them new insight, very useful information, and reassurance that healing can occur. Readers describe the book as a great read on understanding how and why we may act and feel the way we do. They also appreciate the simple worksheets at the end that allow them to work off of them and create one closer.

Select to learn more

ContentReadability
44 customers mention "Content"44 positive0 negative

Customers find the content in the book useful, helpful, and reassurance that healing can occur. They say it provides the reader hope, is worth the read, and rewarding in their growth and recovery. Readers also mention the book shares examples that support understanding.

"Excellent book. My therapist recommended it and he was right on her excellent opinion about it...." Read more

"...Great book!" Read more

"Good starter book for those just beginning to look into their family of origin issues...." Read more

"...Very useful information and reassurance that healing can occur." Read more

6 customers mention "Readability"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read. They say it explains in easy-to-understand detail of why people tick the way. Readers mention the worksheets at the end are simple enough that you can work off of them and create one closer. They are impressed by the author's knowledge of the subject and her use of short and relevant case studies.

"A great read on understanding how and why we may act and feel the way we do." Read more

"...It really helps them to understand that they are not to blame for their behavioural patterns in life, and invites them to see themselves in a self-..." Read more

"...it goes through a wide variety of subjects and explains in easy to understand detail of why people tick the way they do...." Read more

"...one meant for the general public, it was incredibly eye opening and easy to read...." Read more

Top reviews from Canada

  • Mackenzie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book!
    Reviewed in Canada on April 5, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    I love this book. I’d recommend to anyone. Even parents that need some guidance on children’s emotions. I’m not a reader, but it kept me engaged and I realized a lot about what I didn’t get as a child.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Northern Shopper
    5.0 out of 5 stars Major Breakthrough
    Reviewed in Canada on June 10, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    This book is a paradigm shift for those of us who grew up in CEN. This is my most important part of understanding myself yet! I recommend it for everyone whether you think you need it or not, none of us grew up in a perfect environment because it doesn’t exist and we are all products of imperfect parents. Highly recommend.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Sophie K
    4.0 out of 5 stars Lifesaving (but be wary of supplying your email address)
    Reviewed in Canada on May 9, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Discovery of this book and the concept of CEN has been a lifesaver. Finally, a term that truly applies to me with a promising goal of recovery! After years of counselling for depression, not one therapist referenced this condition which I believe is more common than we know. Because I had an outwardly normal childhood and a stable marriage and career, they question “what’s wrong with you?” Until this book I was lost and hopeless. The simple revelation of emotions and the exercises to express them has had an immediate affect on me.
    But while Dr. Webb describes the different types of emotionally neglectful-yet-well-meaning parents I believe she could have delved further into the extreme case of unloving parents like mine who were not well-meaning at all. Without belief in birth control, children were a curse forced upon them to be physically cared for only. The emotional scars have left it impossible for my siblings and I to lead normal lives.
    Also, in the 1st chapter readers are encouraged to do a questionnaire to determine if they have CEN. Instead of supplying it in the book, it must be obtained by accessing the author’s website and supplying an email address. What follows are repetitive promotions of Dr. Webb’s online courses with pushy tactics of time-limited registration and discounted prices. I would like to try one but I can find no legitimate reviews or even proof of their validity. And though encouraged, emails with questions about the courses go unanswered.
    12 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • ~kawaii_Queen~
    5.0 out of 5 stars and I'm happy that I did
    Reviewed in Canada on October 30, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Very quick read that lets you consider many personal scenarios of childhood neglect. I read this in a time of personal crisis, and I'm happy that I did.
    Firstly, the scenarios in the book helped me validate my own emotions as natural, learned reactant behaviours to my own childhood events. Secondly, the book acted as a source of inspiration towards critically thinking about my day to day wellbeing. I found the exercises contained in the latter half of the book extremely helpful. Print them out and keep them in a personal binder.
    While I am awful at establishing patterns or routines in my daily life, I found that being able to follow the book's suggested exercises for even a couple of days in a row allowed me to reframe my daily issues and my reactions to them. I'm not saying this book is snake oil; of course it's what you can make of it, and it is by no means an academic text. However, if you do believe that childhood neglect played a crucial role in your current day-to-day wellbeing and you're unable to access dedicated counselling services due to whatever reason, this book is here for you.
    7 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Ginger
    5.0 out of 5 stars Running on empty book.
    Reviewed in Canada on August 10, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    A great read on understanding how and why we may act and feel the way we do.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Juli H
    3.0 out of 5 stars Decent coverage of a complex topic
    Reviewed in Canada on October 30, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    This is a book I’ve glossed through a few times. Because there are lots of sections that don’t apply I found that areas that did apply didn’t go deeper. So, I got a few tips. But I feel the book is a broad swath to catch the many ways CEN can develop.

    I reviewed this book today after reading of Mathew Perry’s death. I could immediately see his challenges likely stemmed from CEN yet the world will know him as an addict due to ‘childhood issues’ and mental health. Mathew is an example of what can go wrong if this persists. However, I don’t think enough focus is on this topic and instead people are trying to fix symptoms vs root cause.

    If anything this book needs to be the start of more depth on the early imprinting and trama that shapes people from a way of helping people rewire. Guaranteed many of the behaviors we see in people stem from childhood. Experts say the first 1-3 years..the first 5 years… etc = early years shape our lives. Since we are little sponges that yonge, there should be a way to catch the ‘bad wiring’ early to create more mentally healthy people vs the many who carry, manage and express large amounts of baggage their entire lives, coping in unhealthy ways that often impact others negatively as well.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Janelle P
    5.0 out of 5 stars Such an awesome book!
    Reviewed in Canada on June 23, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    At first I wasn't sure about reading this book as it talks about emotional neglect from narcissistic parents. Which my parents aren't narcissistic, yet it actually went through all the emotional neglect parenting types - not just the one! It's so worth the read ! I plan on reading it again and again. Especially if you are doing the work on yourself to help raise you own little humans :)
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Regan Stansfield
    5.0 out of 5 stars Childhood Emotional Neglect is a thing.
    Reviewed in Canada on July 17, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    For any one who has suffered from childhood emotional neglect this truly is the book for you. I used to think there was something seriously wrong with me. I didn't understand why I ignored my emotions, why I hated myself, why I was never happy not matter how hard I tried. Now I understand what really happened and why this happened. It was a natural progression of events after being abandoned by my mother over and over again and growing up with another parent who took care of my basic needs but taught me that how I felt didn't matter. I started to work on the work sheets and have to keep working to maintain the habit of checking in with myself and am learning to slowly change my destructive behaviours. Good thing I was never an alcoholic ;) But basic stuff like self care is what I'm learning now. This book has changed my life and given me hope. I thank all that is good for Dr. Webb.
    10 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • Rachael Low
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wow
    Reviewed in Australia on September 20, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    This is the first book I've come across that so perfectly describes my lived experience. Thank you for giving me the tools to heal from this.
    Report
  • Diana Yañez
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente libro
    Reviewed in Mexico on July 14, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Con un lenguaje fácil de entender y con muchos ejemplos
    Report
  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've ever read!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    The author thoroughly explains CEN (Childhood Emotional Neglect) while also helping the reader to identify it within themselves. Yet, she does not leave the reader without solutions to the damaging effects of CEN.

    The solutions are practical and actually work when applied. I think a lot of crime, suicide and negative behaviors that we see in our world could be avoided if individuals would read this book. This book takes you on a healing journey of healthy emotional regulation.
    Report
  • PeeJay
    5.0 out of 5 stars The profound damage of what I never knew was missing
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    I stumbled across this book through an Internet marketing training video, it was a case study which piqued my interest. Brilliant website, videos that made me well up, what was being said resonated powerfully with me. Buying the book became an immediate top priority. I could relate to so much of what Jonice has so incredibly eloquently described, she has been incredible in defining and understanding this invisible condition. Where do you begin to describe the effects of the absence of something invisible? I am not alone! :-) it all makes complete sense. I have much work to do to "fix" myself but having this awareness now is a major leap forward, at least I have now understand why I am the way I am and why I have struggled with so many aspects of my life.

    There should be a standard set of books that pre parents are mandated to read and this should be top of the list. Thank you, Jonice Webb, for your amazing work here and unravelling the mystery of myself.
    Report
  • ony
    5.0 out of 5 stars This book made so much sense, wish I had found it 20 years ago
    Reviewed in Germany on May 5, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    For an emotionally neglected person struggling to find place in this world this is a must read. It picked up on so many of my own problematic behaviors which I kinda knew were there but didn't pay attention to, gave me insight on them and simple tools how to try gently correct them. It also made me realize that what I thought had been going on with my parent(s), was wrong and they were in fact described in a whole another section to a T. Just being aware of that, how you neglect yourself cause you never learnt better and how things should have been instead, already has a tremendous effect on how you try to move forward from there. It makes me less guarded and more open to understand, myself and others. It also makes me very aware how emotional neglect shows up in other people close to me, how they shut down, get defensive and don't know how to express themselves properly. Lot of things in the book might be "common sense" to a healthy person, but some of us, who never had that sensible model from the get go, _need_ to hear and learn these like they were a child again; how to be a human.

    Book is very easy read and has a good suggestion list of books on how to continue on your journey after this and depending your own situation - several which I already ordered.
    Report