Sociopaths and family

For years, the conventional wisdom in the mental health field was that psychopathic parents abandon their children. If this is true, why do some psychopaths fight to keep their children away from the other parent? Why do they engage in parental alienation to pry the children away? Or why do they accuse the other parent of alienating them from the children? Lovefraud’s Dr. Liane Leedom led a research team a few years ago to examine the parenting behavior of psychopaths. Data are hard to come by — psychopaths often blend into society, and their children can’t articulate what they are experiencing. So Dr. Leedom took a creative approach to gathering data — the team read the memoirs of people wh …

Why psychopathic parents engage in parental alienationRead More

Editor's note: Liberty Forrest, author of several self-help books and a certified Law of Attraction Life Coach, offers suggestions on how to handle toxic family and friends. Read more about Liberty. By Liberty Forrest If you've landed here at LoveFraud, chances are that you're reeling from the pain and disruption of a toxic relationship or upbringing. Or both. Sociopaths and the fallout of abusive relationships can cause a ripple effect that's more like a tidal wave that trashes your life in too many ways to count. And it can go on for many years. Once your self-esteem and self-worth have taken a beating, your choices are adversely affected, as are your connections with people in …

How To Handle Toxic Family and FriendsRead More

By Joanie Bentz, B.S., M.Ed., LBS I’m a mental health practitioner, and while researching family therapy journals for research on cognitive behavioral therapy approaches, I came across a concept called the "Malicious Parent Syndrome.” It described how some divorcing and already divorced parents actively work to turn their children against the other parent. It sounded very much like how sociopaths engage in parental alienation. Characteristics of malicious parent syndrome The concept of Malicious Parent Syndrome was developed between 1995 and 1999 by a psychologist named Ira Turkat, who specialized in family law disputes, false allegations and relationship poisoning. His 1999 article in the J …

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Editor's note: Caroline Parsons is an attorney from Queensland, Australia. Today she poses questions to help you determine if you have a healthy relationship — with a partner and with yourself. Learn more about Caroline Parsons on the Lovefraud Announcements page or in her author profile. By Caroline Parsons, Esq. There’s a litmus test question for determining whether you are in an abusive relationship. Have you ever asked yourself, “Is this what marriage/love/living together is supposed to be like?” We all have issues with our partners from time to time. Two independent adults living together will always cause a certain amount of friction. Most of us accept a level of give and take in our …

What does a healthy relationship look like?Read More

Editor's note: Caroline Parsons is an attorney from Queensland, Australia. Today she suggests that one way to protect your children is to warn them about people who enjoy taking from others. Learn more about Caroline Parsons on the Lovefraud Announcements page or in her author profile. By Caroline Parsons, Esq. There’s a game played by primary school children in the Middle East. Each child is given a bucket and a number of blank slips of paper. The child is encouraged to write kind descriptive words (such as “friendly”, “caring” or “smart”) on these slips of paper. They all then go around the classroom, placing these words into other children’s buckets. The teacher asks how everyone is fee …

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Editor's note: Caroline Parsons is an attorney from Queensland, Australia. Today she explains how many  family violence survivors feel the snap — they're done with the abuse and they're leaving. Learn more about Caroline Parsons on the Lovefraud Announcements page or in her author profile. By Caroline Parsons, Esq. A common but antiquated question in the family violence debate (using gendered language for historical accuracy) is “why didn’t she leave?” Answers include that he convinced her the problems were her fault and he promised to change. Clearly the more important question then is, “why did he abuse her?” But that is the topic of another post. In my view, the better question to be as …

When you feel the snap, it’s time to escape the toxic relationshipRead More