The Official And Now Love Podcast: www.andnowlove.com Dr. Loren Weiner: www.lorenweinerphd.com In this episode, Cynthia Marks is joined again by Dr. Loren Weiner to explore idealization—the unconscious tendency to see people, institutions, and even leaders as far more perfect than they are. Loren explains that idealization is normal early in life because a baby must experience caregivers as “good enough” to feel safe, but it becomes a problem when we can’t tolerate truth, nuance, or ambivalence. Through Dr. Bernard Bail’s imprint theory, they describe how an infant takes in a mother’s unprocessed material and then wrongly concludes, “I caused it,” which fuels guilt and keeps parents on a pedestal. The conversation shows how idealization spreads beyond family into teachers, celebrities, partners, bosses, and political leaders—and how its flip side, devaluation, creates black-and-white thinking. Cynthia shares how she idealized her parents for decades and how dreamwork helped her open the door to reality without her world collapsing. Loren illustrates the pattern through vivid dream examples—rockstar parents in a limo, a missing phone, and being “too stoned” to feel—revealing how we stay disconnected from ourselves to keep the illusion intact. The takeaway is empowering: when you learn to read your dreams, you gain the flexibility to see the full picture and make healthier choices in love and life. Host: Cynthia Marks, creator/host of And Now Love. Featured Guests: Dr. Loren Weiner, Clinical Psychoanalyst Core ideas: idealization of the parents, mother's imprint, dreams, relationships, attachments Episode length: 00:52:03 Follow our socials: Instagram / / andnowlove.podcast Facebook / / And Now Love Podcast Youtube / / @AndNowLovePodcast TikTok / / and.now.love.podc 00:00 — What Idealization Is 06:40 — Making Mom Perfect 13:20 — The Imprint & Guilt 19:55 — Putting It on Everyone 27:05 — Devaluation & Black/White 34:05 — The Limo Dream 40:55 — Missing Phone / Being Stoned 48:55 — Don’t Change (Closing)