By O.N. Ward Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the links at the bottom of the post. Chapter 9: Prince Charming Picks Me I poured myself into my new job, but I was a lightweight compared to Paul. He lived and breathed for his firm, often staying at the office until well past midnight and even spending entire weekends at work. Consulting companies are known to demand insane hours from their new associates. Still, the amount of effort Paul invested in his job was b …
Sociopaths: Once You’re Hooked, You Are The One Making All The Compromises
By O.N. Ward Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the links at the bottom of the post. Chapter 8: I Will Follow Him Deeply in love, or so I thought, Paul and I agreed to coordinate our job search so we could stay together after business school. In early January, Paul received his first job offer—to work for a niche consulting firm in Minneapolis. I wanted to stay on the East coast, closer to family in Vermont. I hoped to work in public relations after getting my MBA, b …
Sociopaths: Once You’re Hooked, You Are The One Making All The CompromisesRead More
Sociopaths Assume We’ll Use Old Frameworks To Process New Information
By O.N. Ward Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the links at the bottom of the post. Chapter 7: What's In It For Me? Another Red Flag Missed Against the vast, sparkling sea of emotionally and intellectually fulfilling time spent together studying, attending classes, working out, sharing dinners, and looking for jobs, the ripples that appeared in my relationship with Paul hardly registered. No person or relationship is perfect, so of course there would be d …
Sociopaths Assume We’ll Use Old Frameworks To Process New InformationRead More
Sociopaths Use Love To Blind Us To Their Nefarious Intent
By O.N. Ward Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the links at the bottom of the post. Chapter 6: Love Blinds—Really! If Paul had become annoyed with me for disappointing or inconveniencing him on our first, second, or even third date, I probably would have decided he was a selfish jerk and ended any meaningful involvement with him. So why did this small red flag go unheeded when it occurred on New Year's Eve, a year into our relationship? Because his annoyance and se …
Sociopaths Use Love To Blind Us To Their Nefarious IntentRead More
Subtle Sociopath “Tells”– Lacking Empathy Even When You’re Ill
By O.N. Ward Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the links at the bottom of the post. Chapter 5: Make Your Own Damn Sandwich! I did not extrapolate or act upon these seemingly small moments of dissonance, but I had a friend who did exactly that in one of her relationships. Her decision to trust her instincts and to generalize from one small selfish act to what married life with her fiancé would be like may have saved her from a disastrous marriage, perhaps to a soc …
Subtle Sociopath “Tells”– Lacking Empathy Even When You’re IllRead More
Sociopath: “Moments of Weirdness” Or Unrecognized Red Flags?
By O.N. Ward Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the links at the bottom of the post. Chapter 4: Love At First Sight Is Possible...Just Be Sure You're Seeing Clearly Paul was romantic, caring, and attentive. He took me to plays, cooked dinner with me, and shared hikes and long walks. When our relationship evolved to physical intimacy, he was an amorous but gentle lover. I felt so lucky to have found him. By the time we started dating, Paul already had a co …
Sociopath: “Moments of Weirdness” Or Unrecognized Red Flags?Read More
Sociopaths Count On Getting The Benefit Of The Doubt
By O.N. Ward Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the links at the bottom of the post. Chapter 3: Sociopath Math I can almost hear the collective cacophony. “Onna! That can't be the whole story. There has to be something more to it. There are always two sides.” In an attempt to be fair and to give everyone involved the benefit of the doubt, we tend to discount and dismiss malicious, destructive behavior. Sociopaths count on this. Contrary to the popular saying, there …
Sociopaths Count On Getting The Benefit Of The DoubtRead More
Sociopaths and forced teaming – ‘we’re in this together’
By O.N. Ward Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the link at the bottom of the post. Chapter 2: Please Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain This probably sounds like the beginning of a love story, a second chance for two people moving on after unsuccessful first marriages. That is how I viewed it at the time, but I was wrong. I would not figure it out for twenty years, but the man to whom I was so attracted was, and is, a sociopath. Already, he was us …
Sociopaths and forced teaming – ‘we’re in this together’Read More
Date Differently: How to recognize, escape and heal from sociopaths
Donna Andersen is today's featured interview in this important series for women: Spot the Frogs and Find the Prince How to Date Differently and Create the Love You Crave In this interview, you'll learn: How to spot the Red Flags of Love Fraud Why women don't listen to warnings about romantic partners Risk factors that make women vulnerable to sociopaths Three steps for protecting yourself from sociopaths The surprising silver lining of being involved with a sociopath This is a great interview packed with information. It is available FREE online, but only until April 19. So if you want to hear it, sign up today. Spot the Frogs and Find the Prince How to Date Differently …
Date Differently: How to recognize, escape and heal from sociopathsRead More
After the sociopath, date differently
Many women, after realizing they were romantically involved with a sociopath, say they'll never get involved in a relationship again. I do agree that you should refrain from dating for a while, maybe a long while, until you are reasonably healed from your experience. But "never" is a really long time. If you never engage your heart again, the sociopath will win permanently. And that would be a crying shame. But how do you try again? You fell for the lies once. Can you trust yourself to spot a predator? To help women who want to move forward, my friend, Teagin Maddox, is producing a free series of interviews with recovery and relationship experts, including me. It's called: Spot …