5. Solo Parenting in Medical Families: Carrying the Load Alone

Solo Parenting in Medical Families: Carrying the Load Alone How Physician Burnout Turns Partnership Into Parallel Parenting Solo parenting is one of the most common — and least acknowledged — experiences in medical families. In this episode of The MedLife Support Podcast, host Lisa Muehlenbein, PhD explores solo parenting through the physician spouse perspective, drawing from her doctoral research on Physician Burnout and the Marital Relationship: Spouse Perspective. Lisa discusses how burnout turns partnership into parallel parenting, why imbalance often becomes normalized, and the emotional cost of carrying family life largely alone. This conversation offers validation, language, and compassion for spouses navigating parenting under chronic stress. Subscribe for ongoing conversations about physician burnout, marriage in medicine, and support for medical families. To read Dr. Lisa's complete dissertation, click HERE. The books mentioned in the show were: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD Your body Speaks Your Mind by Deb Shapiro