Editor's Note: This SPATH Tale was submitted by the Lovefraud reader whom we'll call "Gerald." At age 62, I married a gal I'd been in love with all my life. I'd known her in high school and when I re-connected with her I felt that my two divorces were just dues I had to pay to get "the real thing." I told her that marrying her was like winning the lottery for me. She soon began to manifest some troubling behaviors fabricating supposed cheating incidents that never happened and misunderstanding small incidents. She became hyper-critical of everything I said or did. The first real clue I had to the nature of the problem was when I mentioned a book I'd read, "The Sociopath Next Door." …
I was love bombed into a relationship with a sociopath
Editor's Note: This SPATH Tale was submitted by the Lovefraud reader whom we'll call “Ms Love Bombed.” My involvement with a sociopath lasted five years. I didn't know anything about sociopaths until my therapist told me to look up the definition. That is when I realized I was involved with one. My spath love bombed me the minute we officially met. I had known him only from going to my husband's softball games. The first few years, it was only sex with him. He was living with another woman (which I didn't know for the longest time and he lied to me, saying they were just roommates). I always said I was his whore. He called me names and verbally, emotionally, and mentally abused me. …
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Abusers and their 5-step strategy to get women to drop charges
A new study reveals the five-step strategy men who are charged with felony domestic violence use to get their female victims to recant their stories. Researcher Amy Bonomi, associate professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University, and her team, listened to recorded phone calls between incarcerated men and their female victims. The analysis of these conversations may fundamentally change how victim advocates and prosecutors work with domestic violence victims to prosecute abusers, according to the researchers. Jailhouse phone calls reveal why domestic violence victims recant, from Science Daily. "Meet me at the hill where we used to park": interpersonal …
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Mark Manson reveals why ‘Love is Not Enough’
Mark Manson is an author and entrepreneur who posts on his website hundreds of articles about psychology and modern culture. ”˜Love is Not Enough' is a straightforward look at love through Mark Manson's eyes. Manson compares John Lennon's notion that “all you need is love” with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor's idea that “love is not enough.” Manson sides with Reznor and warns that there are three harsh truths about love: love does not equal compatibility, love does not solve your relationship problems, and love is not always worth sacrificing yourself. Manson summarizes that love is a wonderful experience. It's one of the greatest experiences life has to offer. And it is something ever …
Why I wrote, ‘Entangled’
By Natalie Monroe Divorced after thirty years and unsure about my future, my confidence level was at an all-time low. Alone for the first time in my life and living in Florida, I felt isolated, but too scared to get back into the dating scene. Luckily, I didn't have to. Only three months on my own, an old classmate through the high school website contacted me. I remembered him right away. “Daniel Weaver” (not his real name) one of the popular boys and someone who never had an interest in me. Taking a chance, I agreed to meet him in New York, on my next trip home. Good-looking and charming, he said all the right words to make me fall for him. Intent on overcoming the difficulties of a long dis …
The critical thinking skills and instincts he tried to erode ended up saving my life
Editor's note: This story is from a Lovefraud reader whom we'll call "Eve2014." I have what is known as Narcissistic Victim Syndrome, and have suffered from it since I was narcissistically abused* by my father, who was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. I have been diligently and continuously working on myself in therapy for many years, with a slew of diagnoses that are all incorrect. It is only because of my involvement with a psychoanalytic therapist who behaved like a sociopath,** that I have reached the depths of emotional devastation and worked like a demon to solve the mystery. I cannot say whether Dr. X is a sociopath, psychopath, or narcissist, as I am not …
The critical thinking skills and instincts he tried to erode ended up saving my lifeRead More
He has no remorse for the complete fraud he was to me and our children
Editor's Note: This SPATH story was submitted by the Lovefraud reader who goes by the name of "Beverly2014." I have told this story so many times and feel like no matter how much I discuss it I could never tell it all because there are so many details and incidents that occurred that it would be exhausting and somewhat impossible. I met my Sociopath about two years after my divorce from my first marriage which was abusive in its own way. My Socio preyed on my vulnerability and used it against me. When we met online he was instantly every dream I had ever dreamed of -- the "perfect" man. Looking back on everything it is so frustrating the level of deceit and energy he put into fo …
He has no remorse for the complete fraud he was to me and our childrenRead More
LETTER TO LOVEFRAUD: Lovefraud.com saved me from a sociopath
Editor's Note: This letter to Lovefraud was submitted by a Lovefraud reader whom we'll call Jennette. Dear Donna, I saved myself from a sociopath thanks to your Lovefraud.com. Thank you very much, I can tell you now that you saved my life! You see, I was unlucky... He was my first boyfriend when I was 18 yrs old. He made me trust him with insane lies. He knew my weakness was not trusting people so easily. I was very vulnerable, kind, romantic and insecure. I broke up with him -- although I loved him -- because he cheated on me and my parents forced me to do this for my own good. He had haunted my dreams and mind for 10 years .The bond he had created couldn't break no matter how h …
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Mary Ann Glynn: Deceit – the most destructive abuse
By Mary Ann Glynn, located in Bernardsville, New Jersey I have noticed that those who get involved with a sociopath, whether it's for 30 years or three months, the relationship has the same devastating effect. I've heard some describe even a brief encounter with a sociopath as the most destructive relationship they'd ever been in, even if they had previously been in a physically abusive relationship. What makes this true? Loss of value and power Any abusive relationship is destructive. In order to survive it, a person has to sublimate their needs and their identity, and a loss of self is experienced over time. Self-esteem is battered. Ongoing exposure to physical or verbal degradation from …
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Mary Ann Glynn: Mind Warrior app helps you reclaim your lost self and heal from PTSD
By Mary Ann Glynn, located in Bernardsville, New JerseyIn recent years technology has made it possible to study as never before how the brain works and what can effectively change and heal it. Neuroplasticity, the opening of new neural pathways in the brain, is the key factor. I developed a therapeutic app to help this process, called Mind Warrior â„¢. Survival mode For those caught in a relationship with a sociopath, the brain's response to the ongoing trauma puts us in “survival mode” and we can lose our grip on the ability to cope (choose positive and healthy ways of feeling). Indeed, we can be stuck in the cycle of abuse and deception, which produces feelings of confusion, u …
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