Before sunrise on September 11, 2001, my rowing partner, Mary, and I, were already on the water for our morning workout. As darkness imperceptibly gave way to light, the bay was calm, the air was clear—an absolutely beautiful day dawned. We glided past herons and egrets, enjoying the quiet peace of Nature. A couple of hours later, I was driving to a 10 a.m. meeting when I heard something on the car radio about a small plane crashing into the World Trade Center in New York City. By the time I reached my client's office, all of her co-workers were standing around a radio. Both towers of the World Trade Center were hit, and the announcers were talking about a terrorist attack. “What do you …
Don’t think ‘choices’ and ‘mistakes’ are the same thing
By Joyce Alexander, RNP (retired) How we define words and concepts helps us to see human behavior in a realistic way. When people make bad choices, and do bad things, things they know are wrong, they ARE still CHOICES, not accidents or mistakes, even though the consequences were unforeseen when they are caught and punished. I've frequently heard people refer to what I consider to be deliberate and knowing “choices” as “mistakes.” In the sentence, “he made a mistake and robbed a liquor store,” my inclination is to scream, “NO, he did NOT make a ”˜mistake,' he made a deliberate choice to rob a liquor store.” The mistake was he didn't figure he would get caught, and he was wrong. He got ca …
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‘Bad mothering’ lawsuit dismissed
An Illinois appeals court recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by the two adult children of Steven A. Milner and Kimberly Garrity, who divorced in 1995. Both children, Steven II and Kathryn, lived with their father, an attorney, in a $1.5 million house. They alleged that their mother caused emotional distress by sending dumb birthday cards or failing to send care packages when they were in college. In reporting the story the Chicago Tribune portrayed Steven II and Kathryn—represented by their father and two other attorneys—as spoiled brats. Read: 'Bad mothering' lawsuit dismissed on ChicagoTribune.com. I was all set to think that the case was a frivolous lawsuit driven by Steven Min …
Hurricanes, terror and sociopaths
Once again, I was terrified that my life was going to collapse. Eleven years ago, my fear was caused by my sociopathic ex-husband, James Montgomery. Because of him, my savings had been wiped out, I was overloaded with credit card debt and my business was decimated. I was fighting him in court, and even when I won, it didn't matter. The court ordered him to pay me, and he ignored the order. I got nothing. I had been well and truly betrayed. I berated myself for my stupidity in believing his grandiose schemes. My relations with family members were strained—they also thought I was stupid. I was 44 years old, and facing the fact that I'd never have the only thing I thought that I wanted in …
Psychopaths in the corner suite
According to research by Dr. Paul Babiak and Dr. Robert Hare, one in 25 business leaders may be a psychopath. Their research will be presented in a BBC Horizon documentary called Are you good or evil?, Wednesday, September 7, at 9 p.m. Read One in 25 business leaders may be a psychopath, study finds, on Guardian.co.uk. Story suggested by a Lovefraud reader. …
Today I told a lie, because the truth was too unbelievable
By Joyce Alexander, RNP (Retired) I don't have much use for people who lie ”¦ but sometimes I have resorted to it myself, and today was one of those days. You know, sometimes psychopaths are sort of like a sexually transmitted disease, they are the “love that keeps on giving in a negative way,” it seems, forever. What brought me to telling a lie, because it was just more believable than the truth, was a convoluted story about the “Trojan Horse Psychopath” who infiltrated my family. This man is a three-time convicted child molester who had been a former cell mate and friend to my son, Patrick Alexander, who is in prison in Texas for murder. My son had sent him to infiltrate our family …
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Letter from a sociopath
From time to time, Lovefraud receives email from people who identify themselves as sociopaths. Here's one that came in recently: I have read your website, and i am not impressed. You give the impression that all sociopaths are murderers and haters, incapable of loving, and should be thrown away as a tragedy to the human race. You do not mention the difference between a high-functioning sociopath and a low-functioning sociopath. I happen to be a high-functioning sociopath, and your website is all lies and misguided information, and whats worse, you gain money out of creating a stigma of us, and abusing the victims of certain relationships, which although do happen, aren't generally what high …
Hastening the demise of sociopaths
Millions of sociopaths roam the planet. They inhabit all segments of the population. They are male, female, rich, poor, old, young, all races, all religions, all education levels, all demographic groups. Most of them are not in prison, so they move freely among us, living their lives by exploiting others. Many take pride in their ability to manipulate others. Some who are criminals view crime as fun. They see nothing wrong with their behavior. As long as they keep succeeding, sociopaths will continue to behave the way they do. So how do we make them fail? Sociopaths only want to win, so failure is losing. Failure is not being able to exploit others, or at least not being able to get …
Disordered people exist, and we need to avoid them
Last week, after publishing ThePsychoExWife.com and the First Amendment, Lovefraud received the following letter: I want to commend you and thank you for your website. It is a service to all survivors and the people that love them and, if you'll permit me, I do want to open a dialogue with you about some concerns I have about the site. I have read everything possible about sociopathy from a graduate student perspective and from my own experience with a violent sociopath and several other moderate paths, as well as other random people and family members that fit various DSM criteria, I am concerned that your site is very black and white and that people will be misled to their detriment. …
ThePsychoExWife.com and the First Amendment
From time to time, Lovefraud hears from men who complain that we talk about male sociopaths but not female sociopaths. Actually, I was very careful to refer to both men and women in every post on the main website, Lovefraud.com. And here on the Lovefraud Blog, we do have a category devoted to female sociopaths. But the fact it, approximately 80 percent of Lovefraud readers are women who were exploited by sociopathic men. So yes, it does seem that Lovefraud tilts towards male predators. That's why a website called ThePsychoExWife.com is an important resource. I first learned about this website last week from the following story in the Philadelphia Inquirer: Divorce blog's rancor …