Licensed therapist Jeremy Mast welcomes Nice Guy Recovery Coach Michael Zick to discuss “nice guy syndrome” from Dr. Robert Glover’s No More Mr. Nice Guy, defining it as a male form of codependency marked by people-pleasing, self-abandonment, emotional disconnection, suppressed anger, and inauthenticity that harms relationships. Michael explains how childhood roles and limited emotional modeling lead men to repress feelings, with anger often emerging sideways through withdrawal, stonewalling, manipulation, or addictive and secretive behaviors like porn, sex and love addiction, cheating, or substances. They explore enmeshment with mothers (covert/emotional incest, “monogamy to mom”), guilt and obligation, the “loyalty bind,” and how unresolved anger gets displaced onto partners and family. Initial healing steps include awareness, emotional vocabulary (feeling wheel), responsibility over victimhood, identifying needs and boundaries, and consistent new actions; Michael shares resources at michaelzick.com and niceguyuniversity.com.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

01:19 Meet Michael Zick

02:33 What Is a Nice Guy

06:12 Emotional Suppression

09:18 No More Mr Nice Guy

11:57 Why Nice Guys Cheat

15:49 Enmeshment With Mom

22:09 Guilt Anger Spillover

25:34 Crisis Leads to Healing

27:01 Boundaries With Mom

28:25 Books That Help

29:16 Therapy And Enmeshment

30:19 Owning Your Part

32:49 First Steps Awareness

33:18 Body Tension And Beliefs

37:22 Feel The Full Range

40:18 Fear And Authenticity

43:45 Victim Mindset Trap

48:27 Agency Through Action

50:14 Addiction And Nice Guy Work

52:10 Where To Find Michael

53:23 Final Podcast Wrap