How to recognize and recover from everyday sociopaths - narcissists

How did your family member become mind controlled by a sociopath?

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Perhaps you're a heartbroken mother or father, worried sick about your adult child, who is entangled with a sociopath and becoming more and more distant. Or perhaps you're an adult child, afraid that the new person in the life of your mother or father is an exploiter, angling for your parent's assets. Whether it's a family member or friend, it's painful to see someone you care about being mind controlled by a human predator. And you wonder, how did this happen? Here are some points to help you understand the process. Essentially, sociopaths —people with antisocial, narcissistic, borderline, histrionic or psychopathic personality disorder — take advantage of the characteristics that …

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Why you can become addicted to a sociopath

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Updated for 2019 Lovefraud received the following email from a reader: Why can't I get past this jerk? Why do I feel like there is something wrong with me? You see he dumped me for a female version of himself, i.e., drug dealer, liar, manipulator, violent — and he is stringing me along bad mouthing her to me and vice versa. Never in a million years would I think I would even associate myself with someone like that! Yet I'm beating myself up - why not me?? I should be grateful!! Why am I still pining for this creep? Many, many Lovefraud readers have described the same confusion: I realize now that the person is a sociopath. I know he betrayed me. I know he is bad for me. But I still love …

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Is he a sociopath or am I the toxic person?

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Editor's note: Lovefraud received the following story from a reader whom we'll call "Carolina." I am completely confused about what actually happened and what is going on. I recently broke up with my boyfriend — we have been on and off for the past 18 years — I met him when I was 10 years old. He made me think he was the perfect man. And that he was loyal honest trustworthy sincere caring my soul mate. I'm not a perfect person — I have made mistakes — but he always made me feel secure. I was really dependent on him — he was my whole world. I've always tried to self-evaluate and fix my behavior and I've always been open about talking to him about everything and anything and I thought he …

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Book Review: The psychopaths of the Holocaust

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Holocaust Memories: A survey of Holocaust memoirs, histories, novels, and films, by Claudia Moscovici Review by Donna Andersen Most of us have some knowledge of the Holocaust. We've heard about the concentration camps and gas chambers. We know one of Adolf Hitler's objectives during World War II was the "Final Solution" — an attempt to wipe out the Jewish population of Europe. We know that six million Jews were murdered, plus millions more Communists, prisoners of war, gypsies, intellectuals, handicapped people and others. We may have seen movies like Schindler's List and Sophie's Choice. Maybe we read The Diary of Anne Frank. But it's doubtful that we understand the true brutality …

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Video: Finally, how to break your addiction to the sociopath

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For all of you who know intellectually that the sociopath is deceitful, abusive, dangerous and unhealthy — yet you struggle to put the person out of your life — this webinar is for you. EFT Tapping to Break Your Addiction to a Sociopath Wednesday, Sept. 25 • 8 - 9 pm ET Instructor: Stacey Vornbrock, MS, LPC You are not imagining your addiction. Stacey Vornbrock, a licensed professional counselor and expert on EFT tapping, explains how your cells really are addicted to certain emotions — emotions that the sociopath is an expert at triggering. This is amazing stuff. These techniques will enable you to finally get the sociopath out of your head and out of your heart, so you can move …

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How to help your child, parent, relative or friend escape a sociopath’s cult of one

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Time and time again, I hear from parents who are worried sick about their adult child's involvement with a sociopath. I hear from adult children terrified for their parents, people concerned about brothers and sisters, others worried about friends. Their loved one is being deceived, manipulated, isolated and exploited by the sociopath. But the target won't listen and won't leave. Maybe you are one of the Lovefraud readers who has asked me, what can I do? Finally, Lovefraud is offering a webinar to directly answer your question. I am thrilled to announce that Steven Hassan, M.Ed., LMHC, NCC, the world-renowned expert in helping people escape cults (even cults of one person) will …

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15 typical crises sociopaths create in our lives — and how to start your recovery

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Sociopaths can drain us of everything we've got. By the time many of us understand that we're dealing with a human predator, we look around and realize that we are depleted in many areas of our lives. Here are 15 typical crises caused by sociopaths: Our money is gone. We are heavily in debt and our credit is gone. Our housing situation is perilous — we are homeless, in danger of becoming homeless, or stuck living with the sociopath. We don't have reliable transportation. We're not working — the sociopath promised to support us, or we're working for the sociopath, or we are so stressed that we can't work. We've been isolated from family and friends. The sociopath has …

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Podcast: California con woman defrauds her Kiwi husband and his family

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Love fraud is the theme of the latest true crime podcast created by ABC (Australia). Snowball tells the story of the fast-talking, charismatic California woman, Lezlie Manukian, who seduced, married and then swindled Greg Wards, a young man from New Zealand, and his family. The story was investigated by Ollie Wards, Greg's brother, who traveled the world to interview people who knew, and in some cases were also defrauded by, the seductive predator. In 2006, Ollie’s brother Greg was backpacking in London when he fell head-over-heels in love with Lezlie. They set up a new life in New Zealand, but only months after their showy wedding, things turned sour. Lezlie vanished from Greg’s …

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I was one day away from sending money to the scammer

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Editor's note: Lovefraud received the following story from a reader whom we'll call "Clara19."  I was contacted through Pinterest. The thumbnail picture was a military man...seemed safe enough to chat. Went very interested in a romantic relationship too quickly. I got daily texted graphics proclaiming his love for me. This started to break my caution down. After a few weeks he started mentioning he needed money. He was on an oil rig and ran short of funds to pay shipping costs and I should sent 12,800 dollars to him. He gave me 3 different places to sent money over the course of a week. My bank thought it was fraudulent. I did further online research and found the scammers had …

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Dating apps lead to stronger marriages — really?

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In the most recent issue of the Wall Street Journal (August 31, 2019), an essay extolls the miracle of dating apps. I read it with skepticism. Dating apps are making marriages stronger, by Dr. Peggy Drexler, on WSJ.com. To read the full article, you need to be a Wall Street Journal subscriber. So if you're not a subscriber, here's a summary: Research shows, according to the author, that online dating leads to better romantic compatibility and stronger marriages. In 2013, a University of Chicago study found that couples who met online had a higher "relationship quality" and a 25% lower rate of separation and divorce. The study also found that anonymous online communication …

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