A couple of months ago I was contacted by Caitlin Dickson, a reporter for the Daily Beast blog (the online presence of Newsweek magazine). She was writing an article about the book Confessions of a Sociopath, by M.E. Thomas. She asked me what I thought of the book. I explained that I refused to buy it so I hadn't read it, although I did read Thomas' article in Psychology Today (which was online). Here's my previous post about the book: Confessions of a Sociopath: a book I don't want to buy or read I talked to Dickson about the millions of sociopaths who live among us, and how destructive they are. I explained Lovefraud's work in helping people recognize, avoid or escape them. I …
Letter to Lovefraud: Who will be my hero?
Editor's note: The following post was written by the Lovefraud reader "Winifred." He was her hero. I am his hero. Who will be my hero? I attended my first meeting last week for Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA). I am an adult child of an alcoholic mother, but not an alcoholic myself ”¦ thank God! I am telling you this because one of the main characteristics of an ACOA is the compelling feeling we have to always pick relationships where someone needs us to rescue them! When my husband and I got together in 2004, I asked him why he married a sociopath (his ex-wife) and he stated that, "She needed a knight in shining armor, and needed to be rescued." It has been nine years, and I fin …
Con artist Tim Dog raps from the grave
Esther Pilgrim invested $32,000 with rapper Tim Dog but the investment was a scam. She won a court judgment against him, and Tim Dog was paying the minimum —$100 until he suddenly died on Feb. 14, 2013. Except now he's recorded a new song. Rapper may admit death hoax in new song's lyrics, on WREG.com. The story was the subject of an episode of Dateline. See Lovefraud's previous story: Tim Blair, aka rapper Tim Dog, exposed by women who “invested” in his business schemes …
LETTER TO LOVEFRAUD: He is asking for forgiveness
Editor's note: The following article was sent by the Lovefraud reader who posts as "Jov77." It is actually a letter that Jov77 received from a former friend, who he now believes is disordered. Jov77 has stopped contact with this person. He's looking for help in making sense of the letter. (The comments in parentheses are explanations by Jov77.) The letter below was just given to me from this friend I have been closely associated with for some years now. I had numerous challenges in the friendship which left me drained and exhausted so I wrote a letter expressing some thoughts. In the letter I did not ask him for anything in relation to making the friendship better. This person is di …
Con artist picks the wrong target for military scam
Government press releases are so dull. Here's one that arrived in the Lovefraud inbox recently: Hardin County, Kentucky man guilty of impersonating a soldier for financial gain You can read it, if you like. But let me rewrite it for you, and tell you what I think really happened. Jonathan Wade Short's short-lived military scam Jonathan Wade Short, 23, of Hardin County, Kentucky, was trolling the Internet, looking for an easy mark, when he came across A.V. Striking up an online conversation, he learned that A.V. was the daughter of a retired military man. Short immediately told A.V. that they were meant to be together, because he, too, was a soldier. Short claimed that during his …
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Showbiz psychos: ‘Seven Psychopaths’ and ‘Twisted’
This weekend I took a look at personality disorders, as portrayed by Hollywood. I watched the movie Seven Psychopaths. Then I watched the first four episodes of the teen TV series, Twisted. The movie continued the grand Hollywood tradition of equating psychopathy with murder and mayhem. The TV show was surprisingly perceptive in portraying an adolescent who might be a budding sociopath. Seven Psychopaths I was shocked to discover that Seven Psychopaths is described as a "British crime comedy." (Read the plot summary on Wikipedia.) The movie is not funny, unless multiple cold-blooded murders makes you laugh. In my opinion, this movie is stupid. The premise is that a struggling …
Mental health consequences of stalking, and how to cope
A new study documents high rates of post traumatic stress, anxiety and depression among stalking victims. Experts offer suggestions on how to deal with a stalker. Number One: Notify the police. Number Two: No contact. Stalking distress goes unnoticed, on BBC.co.uk Link supplied by a Lovefraud reader. …
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Using what you’ve learned to choose a better path
By Olga Rodriguez I've read so many times on Lovefraud stories of individuals who have started dating again only to find they are seeing the same characteristics in their new dating partner as they saw in the sociopath. I found myself in the same place recently. But this is when one's previous experience comes in place; this is when we have a choice. We find ourselves at a crossroad and our decision will determine our outcome. We must chose wisely! Do not invite yourself to a pity party: Oh poor me! Why does this happen to me? Instead ”¦ search deep ”¦ deep inside your soul and you will find the answers! This is it The pivotal moment The moment when you realize that the road is familiar …
Pain as motivation for freeing yourself from sociopaths
On Monday, I posted an article entitled, Healing your addiction to sociopaths. In it, I offered three steps for changing a pattern of falling in love with sociopaths. The steps are: No Contact with the current sociopath Do not date anyone for the time being Heal the vulnerabilities The real work is in the third step healing your vulnerabilities. What I suggest sounds somewhat like the good advice that we get on many topics, like: Eat your vegetables Make time for regular exercise Cut down on sugar, carbs and alcohol Get enough sleep We all know we should do all these things, but do we do them? How often do we skip going to the gym, or pour ourselves another …
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A mostly accurate portrayal of sociopaths/stalkers
In Gold Bar, a tiny town in the state of Washington (population 2,075), the local news website posted an article entitled The Mind of the Stalker. It's unclear who wrote the article, because there is no byline. The author describes the behavior of stalkers, writing that many of them are textbook sociopaths. Most of the article is accurate, and is drawn from the work of experts, such as Dr. Robert D. Hare and Dr. Hervey Cleckley. I disagree with a few statements, such as "they cannot control their behavior." But I'm glad to see that someone in this tiny town outside of Seattle is trying to alert the community to the social predators who live among us. I imagine that this person had a …