How to recognize and recover from everyday sociopaths - narcissists

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Kidnapping case exposes need for society to learn about psychopaths

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Reigh Storrow Mills Boss, the 7-year-old girl allegedly kidnapped by her father, Clark Rockefeller, has been safely reunited with her mother, Sandra Boss. Last Thursday, I received a phone call from an ABC News reporter who wanted information about women who marry con men. At that point, I knew nothing about the case. The girl's mother had just released a video appeal to the father of the child, pleading for her safe return. But I did know about marrying a con man. After speaking to the reporter for about 30 minutes, I put her in touch with Dr. Liane Leedom and two Lovefraud readers who were willing to be interviewed. Here's the story: How do smart women get taken by con men? The …

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Con man kidnaps daughter from supervised visitation

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It is already Friday and the daughter of Sandra L. Boss has been missing since Sunday when she was abducted from supervised visitation by her father a con artist. On behalf of other victims of love fraud, I want to tell Sandra that we are praying for her and her daughter. We also understand how an intelligent, loving, successful person can be duped. Sandra L. Boss asks for return of daughter Last night Sandra appeared before the cameras to ask that her former husband return the child, age 7. To see the video visit ABC News. She gave the following message: "Clark, although many things have changed, you will always be Reigh's father and I will always be Reigh's mother,We both love her …

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Help in gathering evidence for a restraining order

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"D" Spotwell knows the frustration of trying to get a restraining order. She had a violent husband (currently serving a life sentence, which is why I'm not using her first name) and another relationship that turned into stalking. She went to court numerous times to get restraining orders, complaining of telephone harassment. She left court empty-handed. Why? Because she had no evidence of the harassing calls. Spotwell has since learned how to get proof of telephone harassment that a judge will usually accept. Now, she's helping women (and men) in similar situations. Spotwell is a representative for a telephone answering system called SpeechPhone. This is essentially a computer technology …

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10 tactics for child custody battles with sociopaths

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Dr. Liane Leedom wrote about the tragic case Dr. Amy Castillo, whose children were murdered by their psychopathic father after several judges issued rulings that failed to protect them. I hope this terrible and extreme case will be a wake-up call for family courts.Lovefraud frequently receives e-mail from men and women involved in child custody disputes with sociopaths, who hopefully, are not murderers. Here is one of them:I am involved in a custody case with a sociopath, however, my case is being fought in Europe where I recently relocated to (I am American, he is European). After being the sole caregiver of my children for five years, I had no choice but to leave them with their father and …

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Judges allow psychopathic father visitation and children are murdered

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Here we go again, another three children murdered after the family courts allowed a psychopathic parent unfettered access them. This is the story of doctor Amy Castillo (a pediatrician) as was told last night on Larry King Live. Dr. Castillo's problems with her husband began in full force about two years ago when he began “staying out all night.” The couple had decided that he would stay home with the children and that she would practice. However, she was unable to go to work because he could not function in the caretaker role. Due to his behavior, she left him. After threatening to kill himself he was hospitalized. According Larry King “court documents say that Mark was diagnosed with a m …

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BOOK REVIEW: Legal Abuse Syndrome

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"Victims are created in two ways: by violence or by deceit. Either type of assault immediately renders the victim hostage to the perpetrator." So begins the book Legal Abuse Syndrome, by Karin Huffer, MS, MFT. Lovefraud strongly recommends that anyone who has been victimized by a sociopath read this book, whether you have faced your perpetrator in court or not. The book explains how people who have suffered injury at the hands of some type of predator often face further injury inflicted by lawyers and the courts, who can be, at best, disinterested, and at worst, corrupt. Legal Abuse Syndrome, Huffer says, is a form of post traumatic stress disorder caused by prolonged contact with the …

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Worst-case scenarios at the Battered Women conference

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The keynote speaker had a question for the 200 or so women in the room during the Battered Women, Abused Children and Child Custody conference: "How many of you have been thrown in jail during your custody battle?" Approximately 15 women raised their hands. These women had been thrown in jail by the courts—technically on charges such as contempt of court or failure to pay child support. In reality, the women were jailed for trying to protect their children from abusive fathers. At least one woman was a fugitive, unable to return to her home state. No one in the audience was surprised—except, perhaps, me. Dr. Liane Leedom and I attended the conference, which was held this past wee …

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Book review: Win Your Child Custody War

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Lovefraud receives many e-mails and phone calls from parents who are in child custody disputes with sociopathic ex-partners. If this is you, you are desperate for help and advice. Personally, I think these are the most tragic cases involving sociopaths. Sociopaths are incapable of loving anyone, including their children. Children, therefore, are pawns in their game, and the game is to torture you. In the worst cases, the game is also to turn your child into a Mini Me, a budding sociopath. To make matters worse, sociopaths are capable of putting on such convincing appearances—smoothly blending partial truth with lies and accusations—that judges frequently believe them. Sociopaths also ma …

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UK man asks for help in reclaiming his children

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A few months ago Lovefraud wrote about a man in the UK—I called him "Tom"—who said his life was stolen by sociopaths. He said he lost his children, home, career and wealth to his ex-wife and her new partner. Tom was arrested nine times on false allegations and has not seen his children since August of 2004. Tom recently won in the criminal proceedings against him—all charges were dropped. But he still faces a battle in family court. Tom asks for advice from Lovefraud readers as he fights to regain contact with his children. Update to Tom's story Here is the update that Tom sent about his story: The outcome of the criminal proceeding that was brought against me by my ex-wife and he …

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Abuse, domestic violence and visitation

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Last week I defined four types of love fraud that constitute points on a continuum from predatory love fraud to adultery. In all these relationships, one member of the couple inflicts physical, mental and/or financial injury on the other. Unfortunately, the presence of children does not necessarily deter violence in relationships. The fact that children can be caught in the middle in violent relationships is illustrated by the following news story reported this week. According to the MainLineTimes.com, the police were called to a domestic dispute in Narberth, Pennsylvania, Tuesday night. Upon arriving at the scene, they found a 34-year-old woman in critical condition. They discovered that …

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