By: Linda Hartoonian Almas, M.S. Ed Last year, I re-connected via social media, with a childhood friend who I had not seen in years. As mothers with children of similar ages, we had a lot to catch up on. As we did, I learned that she has two children who are suffering from a misunderstood and often misdiagnosed disorder. She is a wonderfully positive person, who freely discusses her children's struggles, in hopes of educating others about the issue. She advocates fiercely for them, yet seems to successfully strike a balance between speaking on their behalf and encouraging their independence. The same, only different Over time, as I learned more, I found that I identified with …
Red Flags of Love Fraud: The best book for spotting the socially sick
Donna Andersen determined through surveys and her knowledge of people that the term “sociopath” should be revived and used to describe those who (irrespective of their official psychiatric diagnosis) have adopted a predatory or parasitic lifestyle. In taking this bold step, Donna has filled the void created by my colleagues in Academics and the American Psychiatric Association who can't seem to agree on how to name and define this group. These are people who are called by many names in popular psychology books including: psychopath, narcissist, antisocial, and borderline. The word sociopath tells us what many with these diagnoses are socially sick. The person on the street need not care ab …
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Lifters And Drainers – Finding Sanity After Crazy!
As is my usual way here on this site, I'm writing this week about something that's hit home to me once again. This time, it's about the subject of Lifters and Drainers, Boosters and Bursters, Gremlins and Heroes”¦. Yes, I have plenty of terms for the subject I'm about to explain. But what, exactly, am I talking about you may ask? Well, I'm talking about how we are influenced in the ways in which we operate. Taking both extremes, it's the differences between whether we feel up, positive, poised and ready, or whether we feel tired, drained, despondent and depressed. Specifically in this case, I'm going to focus on two direct ways in which we are influenced — the people around us, and our ow …
Launch today: Red Flags of Love Fraud, plus Workbook, plus e-book!
Today, my new book, Red Flags of Love Fraud 10 signs you're dating a sociopath, becomes available on Amazon.com and through all other distribution channels. This book reveals, for the first time, the tactics of social predators who pursue romantic relationships not for love, but for exploitation. It explains how sociopaths seduce their targets, why it's hard to escape the relationships, and how people can protect themselves. Of course, Red Flags of Love Fraud has been available in the Lovefraud Store for several months, and many of you have written to me to say that it precisely describes your experience. Here is one of your letters: I stumbled across your site in 12/2011 ”¨while Go …
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Psychopaths rape the soul
By Joyce Alexander, RNP (retired) I was reading an article the other day that talked about “justice” for victims. It said that a rape victim is “made whole” after his or her attack when the perp is put in prison. How can a victim of violent rape be “made whole,” no matter what justice is meted out to their attacker? It can't be done. There are some things that can never be “fixed” like they were before the damage, and I believe the “soul rape” by the psychopaths is one of those things. Some of you who have been physically raped may ask, “What do you know about rape?” Well, my bona fides are that my psychopathic sperm donor beat and raped me when I was 19, so I have been both physically …
Fighting back against cyberbullies
A British woman who was tormented by anonymous cyberbullies on Facebook filed suit to find out who they were—and won. Read Bullying victim wins court case forcing Facebook to unmask anonymous tormenters, on News.Yahoo.com. Link supplied by a Lovefraud reader. …
Lessons from Jurassic Park: Sociopaths simply are
Editor's note: The following article was written by the Lovefraud reader who posts as "Adelade." She previously wrote "12 steps of recovery from love fraud." I very much enjoy reading, especially those fictitious works that cause me to think and learn. Without a doubt, nearly everyone has seen the movie, Jurassic Park, based upon a book that was written by Michael Crichton over 20 years ago. Well, I re-read the book over the long Memorial Day weekend. It is far, far different from the movie, and drives home the ramifications of the human myth of “control.” If you haven't read the book, I would urge you to do so, simply because it speaks to a part of the human condition that is inherent in …
Diamonds After All – Discovering Self-Worth After The Sociopath
This week I'd like to start off with another quote. As with many phrases I've come to value, it was sent to me by a good friend when I was going through one of my darker periods. Even today it still makes me smile: “A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure” It's particularly relevant to me this week because I'm discovering all manner of riches around me at the moment. In most cases, treasures that have been hidden away from view and that are only now coming to the surface. I've been doing a little DIY at home you see. It's all part of my process to reclaim my space. Making my home my own home, arranging my space and my stuff the way I like to have everything arranged. …
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‘Teacher of the year’ accused of sexting
Days after being named "Teacher of the Year," John McDaniel, band director of a middle school in Texas, was arrested for sending an explicit photo with a student. Read 'Teacher of the year' winner accused of sending nude photos to student, on MSNBC.MSN.com. Link supplied by a Lovefraud reader. …
Spreading the word on domestic violence and personality disorders
By: Linda Hartoonian Almas, M.S. Ed This past month, I have had the honor of speaking about domestic violence at a training day for law enforcement administrative professionals, as well as at a continuing education program for a local judicial circuit. Both were wonderful days, spent with many amazing men and women in the areas of law enforcement, advocacy, and mental health, as well as those in the spiritual community. My main goal was to raise awareness. I could speak all day on the topic of domestic violence and its relation to personality disorders and still only scratch the surface of what I have to share. With time constraints in place, I chose to highlight some of the press …
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