If you are targeted by a sociopath, you will endure emotional abuse. Sociopaths — meaning people with antisocial, narcissistic, borderline, histrionic or psychopathic personality disorders — live their lives by manipulating and exploiting others. So if you have any kind of extensive or ongoing involvement with a sociopath, you will be manipulated, deceived and betrayed. It's just a matter of how badly. Manipulation, deceit and betrayal are all forms of emotional abuse. Why? Because society runs on trust, and sociopaths violate trust. When the trust you place in someone is violated, you suffer an emotional wound. But will emotional abuse become physical abuse? The answer is, may …
Can a relationship with a sociopath work?
You've met someone who is charming, charismatic, fun, attentive and, oh yeah, sexy. Your relationship is the most exciting you've ever experienced — at first. Then you see some red flags, and your relationship isn't as pleasant as it once was. After a few nasty incidents, you Google words like "pathological lying," and see descriptions that sound like your partner. You suspect your partner may be a sociopath. The good times are, or were, really good. You don't want to throw it all away. So you wonder — can a relationship with a sociopath work? The answer depends on what you mean by "work." You cannot have a supportive, sharing relationship with a sociopath If by "work" you mean a f …
Does my psychopath miss me?
Editor's note: The following article refers to male psychopaths. Women can also be sociopaths, psychopaths and other disordered individuals. Does my sociopath/psychopath miss me? The short answer is “no.” The qualified answer is “yes, in appearance, but only as long as you can afford him.” Since psychopaths are unable to have true feelings, once you are removed from his picture, you are gone forever. Somebody else with financial security will replace you, and then when the money is gone or things go sour, somebody else will replace that person. Psychopaths, we know, are not able to feel gratitude, love, loyalty or any kind of guilt or remorse that could tie him to you. During the …
29 excuses that sabotage our instincts about sociopaths
Almost all of us have an instinctive warning that something is terribly wrong early in an involvement with a sociopath (antisocial, narcissist, borderline, histrionic, psychopath). Almost all of us ignore the warning. Last week I wrote about the physical symptoms that we often feel in 8 ways your body warns you about sociopaths. I included fear, chills, difficulty breathing, crying, pounding heart, upset stomach, nightmares and a nagging feeling. The post was widely shared, and several Lovefraud readers added more physical warning signs: immobilizing exhaustion, poor appetite, nervous tension, tiredness, cloudy thinking, vague upset, tightness in the chest. When we're involved with a …
29 excuses that sabotage our instincts about sociopathsRead More
8 ways your body warns you about sociopaths
It took millions of years for our species to evolve from apes to modern humans, and during those years we spent a lot of time fleeing for our lives. Our very survival depended upon being able to sense danger from predators. We still have the ability to sense danger, although today it comes not from saber-toothed tigers, but from human predators, aka sociopaths. This protective sense is our intuition, which is part instinctive knowing, and part physical reaction. Our bodies tell us when someone or a situation poses a threat. Here are eight ways that our bodies warn us of danger: 1 . Fear. This is the ultimate warning sign. If you are ever suddenly gripped by fear when someone is in your …
How loss through suicide creates perfect targets for sociopaths
By Eleanor Cowan The generous invitation to a "Survivors of Suicide Loss Retreat," a day of comfort for those left behind, could so easily have been ignored by me. After all, it's been 46 years since my depressed mother climbed over the railing of her high-rise balcony in Toronto. I’ve done a great deal of recovery work since then. I researched the negative domino effect of Mum’s life: abused by her alcoholic father, unprotected by her co-dependent mother, denied the privilege of marrying the man she loved because he wasn’t Irish, followed by her hasty marriage to an unhappy religious man, who was a widower – and Irish. “Why did you marry a man you didn’t love, Mom?” I asked her one …
How loss through suicide creates perfect targets for sociopathsRead More
My sociopathic partner: Once the smoke begins to clear…
Chapter 1-wow! You’re an amazing guy! It all began innocently...my daughter's halloween party invite which happened to include an invite of his daughter too. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the horror insanity and chaos we were about to embark on. Perhaps it was the recent loss of my mother...or the stress of having an aging father to care for...or a sister who is only interested in the financial gains she feels entitled to...maybe it was a transition from a single mom to a single mom with an aging sick Dad coming to live with us...maybe it was a fear of being forever alone and unable to date in any normal sense of the word...but whatever the cause he targeted me like w …
My sociopathic partner: Once the smoke begins to clear…Read More
Living with a Sociopath
Well where do I start? I guess right from the beginning. 1999 I was 31 when I met the most handsome charming man in the world, I had travelled well, I used to be a holiday rep abroad, so I thought I was a pretty good judge of character…….. I met him on a night out with friends, on a Saturday Night, we talked all night long, I even went back to his place (no funny business) and we talked all night there too!! We arranged out 1st date the following Mon, what a great night we had, he even told people that we were on our honeymoon, such a laugh as is was our very 1st date!! Things progressed very very quickly we met in June, engaged by Sept and living together by October, and it wa …
Explaining love addiction with a sociopath
According to Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist, romantic love is an addiction. The drive to find a romantic partner is buried deep in the brain, and biologically intertwined with the brain's reward system, which is linked to wanting, motivation, focus and craving. To hear Dr. Fisher explain this, watch the video.Dr. Fisher points out that when you love someone and are rejected, the addiction is worse. Not only do you continue to feel the intense romantic love, but you love your beau even more. Your love becomes an obsession. It turns out that the brain system associated with rewards becomes even more active when you can't get what you want.So what happens when you fall in love …
After the sociopath, a man with borderline personality disorder
Editor's Note: Lovefraud received the following email from reader Victimcindy. Donna Andersen responds after the letter. My first relationship, after my 18-year marriage to a sociopath, was to a borderline personality disordered (BPD) man. Do you find this common as the disordered traits are opposite in some areas? We think we are getting something new and healthy. Spath vs BPD: sex My spath-ex withheld sex as power. The borderline was highly sexual. My spath-ex was charming, but lacked empathy and was emotionally unavailable. He also abused substances, was opportunistic with casual sex outside marriage and secretive. Spath vs BPD: love The borderline was vulnerable, overly e …
After the sociopath, a man with borderline personality disorderRead More