Editor's note: Lovefraud received the following email from a reader who we'll call "Rhonda." Hello Lovefraud …
LETTERS TO LOVEFRAUD: I never thought I was capable of being dupedRead More
New Beginnings
Happy New Year everybody! I'd really love to reach out to everyone on this site to give you a huge hug for 2012 and say thank you for allowing me to be part of your community. Even though I can't physically do it in person right now, I hope you can feel it any way :-) Perhaps not surprisingly, I am choosing this week to talk about new starts, new beginnings and renewed hope. Over the holidays I came across a statement that resonated with me on numerous levels. “You can't reach out for the new until you let go of what is in your hand!” It's another of those simple yet deeply profound wisdoms that convey the truth in a way that can be instantly understood. I smiled when I first read it …
Unforgiven Fear Mongers – Who is hurting me now?
Editor's note: The following article refers to spiritual concepts. Please read Lovefraud's statement on Spiritual Recovery. If someone is continuously harming you, and refuses to stop, should they be forgiven? This is a question that I hope you will try answer at the end of this post. My dad is a convicted serial killer. He killed 4 people and told me about the crimes with great pride. He used me, his favorite son, to help him destroy evidence when he felt that I might be a risk. He made me a part of this so that I would not go to police. He abused my mom, and brothers and sisters. This is not the place to try to make one experience with a sociopath out to be any worse than anot …
Mending boundary fences requires the right tools
By Joyce Alexander, RNP (retired) I get most of my mail at a PO box and only a few things come to my rural mailbox, which sits on the road at the end of my driveway. A few days ago I checked the mailbox, and there were several Christmas cards ”¦ including one from an EX-friend. We had reconnected a few years ago. He was an old college chum, a guy that I had palled around with when I was in my first couple of years of nursing school. He is also a nurse, now retired. We had a lot of the same interests then and still do, so since he had recently moved to this area, we started going places together and just being pals again. This was really kind of fun to have a “running buddy” to go to auc …
Psychopaths and the financial crisis
With their charm and charisma, they take over business organizations. Then they enrich themselves, without regard to who gets hurt in the process. Finally, the organizations crash and burn, and they lie, blame others, and walk away with obscene buy-outs. Does it sound familiar? Read Cohan: Did psychopaths take over Wall Street? on Bloomberg.com. Link supplied by two Lovefraud readers. …
TARGETED TEENS AND 20s: He took away someone I loved
Editor's note: The following email came from an Australian man who we'll call “Roger.” It recounts his years of experiences with someone he originally met in high school, who he thought was a friend, but turned out to be a sociopath. Notice how this particular sociopath seemed to get nothing from Roger but the pleasure of destroying his love life. My encounter with the sociopath began in high school at 16 years of age (1994). My younger brother, who was 12, started high school at this time. My brother and I are completely different in both in looks and in personality. I am the outgoing type, whereas my brother is the reserved type. We are like salt and pepper, never really understood why …
TARGETED TEENS AND 20s: He took away someone I lovedRead More
Suffering, Agony and The Pathway to Peace
Editor's note: The following article refers to spiritual concepts. Please read Lovefraud's statement on Spiritual Recovery. There are times when I feel completely lost in all this pain, with no way out. It is as if I have been completely abandoned in a world full of hurt. There seems to be no one, or no thing, that I can trust anymore. All of the things that I used to enjoy only bring me temporary relief, at best. My mind obsesses about what happened, what could have been, and what misery the future holds. It feels as though my very life has been taken from me. Hopelessness has become my home, and fear my constant companion. If you recognize this state of mind, “you are not alone” …
LETTERS TO LOVEFRAUD: Losing the fear of What Ifs
Editor's Note: This is another email from the Lovefraud reader whom we're calling “Adelle.” She previously contributed, Are you seeing someone else? I finally left my SP and like the alka-seltzer commercial used to say, “Oh what a relief it is.” My decision to leave was made a long time ago. Today I thought to myself, “Why didn't I do this sooner?” I didn't do it sooner because of fear, of course. I had so many “What Ifs?” I never questioned whether it was in my best interest, I knew it was. The “What Ifs?” were in reference to him. What if he contacts my friends and tries to make me look bad? What if he does damage to my car so that I can't get around? What if he hacks my email and st …
Holidays after the sociopath
Lovefraud recently received the following email: It's almost a year since I last saw my x-sociopath as a boyfriend, the real last time was in May in a court and some after. It is hard this time of year with the Holidays around, and I have a lot of health issues and so not hearing his voice, or getting calls, has been hard—even though I know now he is liar. This time last year I did not know how much I had been scammed up til then. Still, with all the reading I have done, and all the thinking and grieving, I just can't understand how this person could have fooled me, or that he knew that he was doing so much wrong to me, while sometimes still saying I love you back to me after I said i …
From trauma to Pro Bowl
Philadelphia Eagles long-snapper Jon Dorenbos overcame unthinkable trauma as a child to become a magician, motivational speaker, and a successful professional football player. Read Eagles snapper Jon Dorenbos finds way to make the holidays magical, on PressofAtlanticCity.com. …