Editor’s note: The following article refers to spiritual concepts. Please read Lovefraud’s statement on Spiritual Recovery.
Last week, I posted correspondence from Arlene, who, after 23 years of marriage, was discarded by her husband and has lost her connections to her children. Arlene said she was so devastated that she just wanted her life to end.
Several Lovefraud readers posted comments of understanding and encouragement for Arlene. Another reader sent an e-mail, describing the steps she took to recover after she had been similarly dumped by her husband. I thought her suggestions were so helpful that I asked permission to post the e-mail, which she graciously granted.
Advice from a reader
Here it is:
Arlene…. I was where you are when I was 40. My husband who I loved and adored and truly admired, left me without warning after 12 years of marriage for another woman. All I had ever heard from anyone was what a wonderful wife I was, what a great mother I was (not only to our children, but to his two daughters). I was devastated, depressed, anxious, scared, fearful of anything and everything, and could barely function. I will not recite all the cruel things he did and said (but he did tell me “you will just have to get over it,” which is still unbelievable to me), but I will share with you how I got well.
FIRST, I went to counseling and made sure the therapist knew about the pathology involved with being a spouse of one of these evil creatures. Even when it seemed to do little good, I kept going and going and eventually, it did help. I sought the help of my doctor, took antidepressants for six months and stayed on Xanax for about a year for the anxiety. The medications were a bridge to emotional healing and stability.
Next, I volunteered wherever and whenever I was needed. I know that may sound impossible to do (and believe me I did NOT want to do it), but the more I volunteered, the more I forgot about my own issues and I slowly developed a grateful heart for what I DID still have. I worked at church, in my neighborhood, as a pro bono attorney, at my children’s schools and a domestic abuse hotline. I still now do all that volunteer work and would not stop for anything.
I counseled with my priest. I was taught how to forgive (and yes, it is a VERY long process and I am still working on it) and finally understood that in forgiving HIM, I was healing ME. I prayed and prayed and prayed. I asked God to bring me peace and to let me know how much he loved me and he did.
Let me also say…. I did some stupid things early on…I drank too much alcohol (I was self medicating and was depressed and did not KNOW I was depressed as I never had been before). I dated too early as I was so lonely, I DENIED that I was hurt and I did not let myself “feel.” When I did finally “feel,” I wanted to die too. I asked God at night to just not let me wake in the morning. He had other things in store for me. Beautiful things.
I promise you, there is going to be a wonderful life for you after the devastation this man caused. You are NOT the problem, he WAS. WAS is the key word here. Take a class, get a job doing ANYTHING if you don’t work already…. do yoga (that helped me too!) and stay active. Look in the mirror and tell yourself you LOVE YOU, you are perfect the way you are (and you are, I assure you) and that you ARE LOVED and that you are worthy of love.
I survived and you will too. My very best, stay sweet, stay loving and start with little steps towards the best life you are going to ever have experienced!
What works for you?
We all have our own paths towards healing. Mine involved a good therapist and allowing myself to feel the pain. By feeling it, I was eventually free of it. I was also in contact with at least one of the other women that my ex-husband scammed, and eventually more of them. It was helpful to know that I was not alone.
Have you recovered from a run-in with a sociopath? Or are you on the road to recovery? Please post a comment describing what helps your healing.
Those of us who have been there are the “wounded healers.” Our experience can aid those who are just beginning the recovery process.
It’s been over a year now since I last saw my husband. He left my life as quickly as he came. He went behind my back and filed for divorce two weeks before he left. He had also brought another woman into our home one evening while I was out of town on business. Now, like so many other victims, I too suffer from the depression, tears, heartache, a sexually transmitted disease and financial devastation.
I was his second wife. The first committed suicide. The longer I lived with him, the more I began to realize that his “story” about her was merely that. He said that she suffered from migraines and could no longer tollerate the pain, she was cheating on him (by emailing an old high school friend 3 states away) and she had also tried suicide once in high school. It sounded as if he was thowing out every excuse he could think of just to divert me away from thinking he was the culprit. She was in her late twenties and she sealed the fate of her soul (my belief) because of this jerk. She died on Halloween. He has Halloween parties every year! It’s his favorite holiday.
Honestly, I was so devastated after he left that I also thought of suicide. I moved 150 miles away and have started to recoup my life. He’s now living in our beautiful home and his life never skipped a beat. I’m thousands of dollars in debt and my credit is ruined but I know the kind of person I was before this happened and I will return to being that person again. Just as he will never change.
I was lucky because many of my friends helped me and luckily one of them was one of the best trial attorneys in the country. He arranged for me to have a great attorney and my employer loaned me the money for the retainer. I would hate to think of the outcome otherwise.
My question is this…If sociopaths never change,if they never have emotions like the rest of us then what does serve as punishment to them? What happens to the old sociopaths of this world? Is there ever justice for the victims?
Used: this is an older post, but I wanted to address your question about justice. It is a question that weighs heavy on the minds and hearts of all former spath victims.
I believe without a doubt that there is justice for the victim and the predator. Although, sometimes, it might not appear so — at least for a while… (i.e. Nicole vs. O.J. Simpson).
But, it will come. And it will be just. For both victim and predator. Payday is coming.
Reading about your situation, I sensed that divine justice was already playing out. You got a great attorney and “found” money for the retainer. You were not forsaken.
As for the debt and credit — those are actually mini-blips in the road of life and will make your final victory story all the sweeter.
You have the most valuable thing in the world — yourself. You have not been destroyed. You are standing. You know who you were before all this nightmare; you will recover.
Your core person is GOOD. You can only go up from here. And, you will. But, for him: “when a person is cruel, he is unkind to his own soul.” He is digging his own grave and destroying himself, evil deed by evil deed.
That soulless, heartless monster may still have the shell of the person he turned out to be. But, he has cancer of the soul. And, his condition is degenerative and terminal…his prognosis is without hope. He has no power to correct the trajectory of his black life. He is a reprobate. Ruined.
Divine judgment is already upon his head. He is doomed to a fate no sane, rational person would ever desire, much less choose. His justice is coming swiftly. It will not be pretty. But, it is his choice. He has been — for a long time — forging the chains that will bind him eternally.
Jenna23: He will. God loves women and He wants them to be treated very specially. He wants the man to protect, defend and love the woman. That is His design.
When a man abuses his privilege as protector, God sees and takes it seriously. God is long-suffering, but judgment comes. And, for some, it comes sooner than they can imagine. God will not be mocked. He will repay.
You can get free from this torment and oppression and recover. And that is what God wants for you. He loves you. He does not want you abused. What you have talked about is emotional and especially sexual abuse. Horrible sexual abuse. Criminal.
Please believe that you deserve being treated well and having and enjoying a wonderful life.
The playboy mansion and Porsche, etc. are all pretty traps and used to entice. But, now it is clear that the man is sick, very wicked. You deserve better.
Better looks different than him.
1 Corinthians 13 describes what love is. Many will say that kind of love is impossible. But, it actually it is the standard.
My relationship/marriage was more emotional abuse. I didn’t know how bad it had become until I started reading about what was normal. I was taking a graduate class (Pre-Marital Counseling)for Professional Counseling and had to read various books.
One was “Safe People” by Henry Cloud and John Townsend — an easy read, an inexpensive book. I was shocked that my beloved hubby was NOT a safe person. I think we can let a lot slide and then we find we are in too deep and then we believe that we just have to accept the abuse. But, it is a lie.
We need to surround ourselves with safe people.
You so deserve better. You are worth it. Don’t believe the lies of the enemy of your soul. Don’t receive the mental, emotional and sexual abuse as a measure of who you are. Anyone who would do the things you have shared — that he did to you — is nothing short of a demon from hell.
Again, I thank God for this site!! My ex is a “church” musician. So, I didn’t think he would ever do me like he did. But he doesn’t believe in God from my point of view. How can anyone believe in God and hurt people? But I know something he doesn’t that my God is a great God and all the pain he has caused me will be turned on him with a vengeance!!!! Plus, he could only see my devalue, devastation and discard. My God will show him my VICTORY!! And thanks to everyone he will not ever touch me sexually again!!! I had been celibate for almost 14 years and then I let this demon in with all of his lies and his favorite words, “I need for You.” And I was there for him through so much mess. I cry because I let my self down and I didn’t see his true colors. His only color. His evil self. Its been over 50 days since he left me for someone else. She posted it on facebook that they were engaged but so were we and he let her do it on my daughter’s birthday. And its been three weeks since NC. I’m determined to keep it that way. It’s time for me to live and if I ever see him again I know not to acknowledge his existence!!!
Hi everyone, I am still trying to answer this same question: How to recover from the devastation of a sociopath. I just recently broke it off with a man I was with for two years; pathological liar, thief, stole my identity 5 times in the beginning, and exploited my childhood issues and previous trauma’s to no end, and then blamed me for his actions.
Used pity plays numerous times to “borrow money” and used a story of a “pending lawsuit” which is due to for a payoff soon as collateral. I fell for this man hard, and found it terribly hard to leave him due to fear, childhood trauma, and an intense bond that resembled the bond between me and a father that abused me terribly as a child.
Finally after going to an attorney to seek advice on how to retrieve the $160,000 he owed me, the attorney revealed 5 warrants out for his arrest, and I had him arrested. He subsequently got out of jail, has several trials coming up, and I am broke, and remortgaging my house due to his lies and my foolishness. The pain is still very very fresh, as it was only three months ago that I ACCEPTED IN MY HEART that he was a psychopath and would never change. He continued to call me to try to blackmail me for even more money, and I had to have my number changed and obtained a restraining order against him, which he readily had no problem “pushing the envelope” on.
I have a promissory note for the $160,000 he owes me, and my attorney assures me he will not likely pay anything until we sue him, and then he may decide to flee before anything can be done.
Meanwhile he attends local AA meetings and gets support of many people who choose to be “nonjudgemental” and I have had to leave my homegroup because I am not supported there anymore…
Pain? Yes…I am in a lot of pain…my therapist and I are going to do some trauma work, and I continue to try to put one foot in front of the other, pray, talk to friends, and just cry a lot…trying to find joy, and remember I AM GLAD I AM ME, AND NOT him…I had so much of what he wanted, and I will regain my life back, my confidence, my compassion and passion for life…and, he will be forever handicapped with MISSING PARTS in his conscience and his mind.
Thank goodness for therapy, good books, prayer, friends, acupuncture…and, good old fashioned faith…
Best of luck to everyone…I will keep you all in my prayers, and if you will…please say one for me! I had to remortgage my house one more time today, I just retired from the Air Force…and, it is terribly difficult not to become consumed by fear and anxiety…but, someday…I will “feel” ok…I truly believe this…someday, I may be able to help someone with my experience…as I am in school to be a therapist…phew….
the lessons have come hard, and at a price, but, I am going to just keep right on moving, putting one foot in front of the other, and count my blessings that I never married the man or had his children…
Again, you are all in my prayers!
RK
I am just reeling from a 4 year relationship with someone I really believe is a sociopath.
We met when I was severely depressed and in the hospital for a suicide attempt I made after surgery.
He was there also for a “suicide attempt” though now knowing what I know it could all have been a fabricated attempt to have someplace to stay or to avoid prosecution for some crime commited.
He appeared sad and depressed at the time and told me the story of his abusive childhood and years of bouncing around foster care. I too came from a traumatic childhood having drug addicted parents and bouncing from one home to another. We connected on this level and he was so attentive to me showering me with affection and praise and helping me whenever he could.
He was living at a motel at the time and I helped him find a job, and let him move in with me and my roommate. He paid his rent on time and had two nice rooms downstairs while I had my room upstairs. We spend many nights together but some night if we were tired we would sleep apart. The sleeping apart happened more frequently.
He took a few jobs which never worked out and then the dry cleaners where I brough my clothes had an opening. He got hired immediately and worked there for a long time and even started managing 3 or 4 dry cleaners for the plant. He appeared to becoming successful and leaving his “old life” of crime (he had been in prison for 4 years). Our lives seemed to be headed in the right direction and he propsed marriage we became engaged and I didn’t like the ring he bought me so I traded it in and got another which angered and upset him but he was okay with it.
We went on an engagement vacation to the bahamas and had a great time. We were so “in love.”
I loaned him the money for a cheapy car so he could get back and forth to work, he fixed it up with his friend and the got into a small accident with it and said he didn’t want it anymore. His friend told me years later that he was driving recklessly and spun out on purpose and that is what caused the crash but he says he skidded on ice. Who knows what the truth is there.
When we got back he was still managing the cleaners, but he mentioned something about not being paid enough for his work and that he might start taking money. I told him this was a bad idea and to just ask for a raise and be patient. He called me a few weeks later to say that he was being accused of stealing but that he “didn’t do it.” It was someone else he said and because of his background he was being blamed. I spoke to the owner of the plant who state he “knew” he did it but couldn’t provide any proof.
I accepted that he didn’t do it and he immediately started working on business partnership with another dry cleaner owner. They opened another store and he was working it. This person co-signed for a car for him. He got into a car accident with this which wasn’t “his fault.” He started a lawsuit against the other driver and it was just a matter of time before his settlement came in.
He would “borrow” money from me which wasn’t so bad except it usually left me with little for my day. He had in the past given me money and was never stingy with gifts. I beleive of some level he really loved me.
I though couldn’t completely trust him after the incident with the dry cleaners, but I tried to put that behind us. I wasn’t as supportive as I should have been with his new business endeavor and I think he relied on me to rally him on.
He opened the new dry cleaners and I was reluctant to see the place and I should have been more excited for him.
For one reason or another he stated the business wasn’t working out because the person who sold it to them had been taking the business to his other cleaners. He was not really happy there I suppose and his car ended up getting repossessed after it was fixed from the accident. His partner claimed he was taking money from him though I never saw any of it. He stated that my ex was not really working the business but instead hanging out with his friends or walking around outside smoking or whatever.
In any event, he had the debit card for the business account and kept taking money out of it. I had in fact invested a small amount of money for business cards and advertising materials for the business and he gave me some of it back from the account. However, now he was without a car and a job again.
I was infuriated. I was dissappointed. I became verbally abusive toward him saying he was a loser and couldn’t do anything right. I know this made him feel even worse.
His partner then stated that it wasn’t that the business wasn’t making money but that he had been taking it out of the register and that is why the rent couldn’t get paid…etc.
I didn’t want to believe this I just couldn’t since he was given an opportunity to own his own place.
I was so mean to him I never accepted with gratitude any fo this gifts he gave me saying they weren’t what I really wanted. I am sure this made him really upset, but he never really showed it.
He would always do things for me to try to make me happy, if I needed anything done, he would always try his best and I would always say it wasn’t right or good enough. It was aweful the way I treated him, but looking back I see I was more angry about the things that I “didn’t know about.” Things he was secretive about or possibly hiding.
He said that whatever he tried I didn’t support him and stand by him and didn’t encourage him. This is true in some ways, I felt I was being lied to really. But I feel now if only I had been more excited about his business venture — if only I had visited him at work when he was alone, things might have been different.
In any event, he now needed another car and another job. He got a job working at a gym and opened up every morning at 5:30am. I drove him to work every morning until we could get him another car. He got one from his friend which was a gas guzzler but it got him to work and I didn’t have to drive him every morning.
I was still pretty mean to him about things arguing that he was working for too little money and could do better and should have really tried to work the dry cleaners and just plain being nasty about the situation because it was not what I wanted. I was pretty selfish.
The gym thing started working well and he was about to get his settlement and I was still paying for some of his bills like his cell phone which was always like hundreds each month.
He would do strange things like text me instead of calling and emailing instead of talking to me face to face.
I didn’t mind. I was doing my own thing – running my business (which he helped me start up and gave me some money to help open and he was right there with me on the grand opening 3 years ago.) I find it hard to work the business now as he is gone.
This is really long and I am going to post this message and then continue……
To continue…
He started managing the cafe of the gym and working the desk and he appeared to be working really hard.
I was doing my own thing and we were growing apart little by little and I became more and more mean to him.
He finally got his settlement and I begged for him to continue to work the gym while we invested the money in a small house or condo or something and then take money out to start another business (landscaping he wanted to do with his friend).
He got very angry with me and stated this is what he wanted and that he was taking his money and getting the landscaping business.
I felt it would be a waste of money and our furture would be in ruins. I told him he would not make it at the business or it would be too much work for him and he wouldn’t continue it.
He told me he was working at the gym and taking a 2 week vacation to open the business. He bought a truck from his friend and opened the business with him.
Turns out he got fired from the gym. His friend said it was because he stole money out of a safe. Don’t know how much at this point and that could have been a lie – He said he wasn’t feeling well and would open up and then leave and have someone punch out for him and that is why he got fired.
I think he may have also had another accident with his other car and that is why he needed the truck.
He gave me 5400 to put in my account to “invest in our future.” I took it thinking that at least we would have a buffer and I fully expected the business to not work and figured he would take it back from me little by little which he did.
He and his friend painted my business which at the time i was putting my heart and soul into. They did such a crappy job, there was paint on my floor, they didn’t tape anything up. There were streaks everywhere and he left the glass from a broken vase all over my floor downstairs. I was livid. I was crying so hard that he could treat my business this way. But then I guess in his mind I never supported him in his business and never went to see the equipment that he was so excited about that he figured why care about mine… anyway… I told him I was breaking up with him and I wasn’t going to give him his money back!
That started this whole big mess. He told me I was being unfair and that he loved me so much he wanted this to work. I told him if he tried to take the money I would have him arrested. Bad mistake to do to him and I know I should have been more understanding. Maybe I am the evil one… I can’t tell anymore.
He had moved out six months before and got his own place which was “not good enough for me” and I never vistited it. He said he was lonely and it didn’t feel like home to him.
I think he then really had it in for me. He told me his cat died and he needed money – I gave it to him feeling really guilty about what I had done.
He told me he needed money for other bills and things, and I have it back to him… his money… I guess… and little by little things started breaking down again.
He texted me that he was in another car accident with the truck and that he had busted ribs. I could not figure out why he was in so many accidents and to this day I don’t know if he really crashed his truck, because his friend was telling me so many wild and crazy stories about him.
I told him I would give him the money to get the car fixed but he said no he would pay it in time.
Then I get a call from his friend saying that he hadn’t seen him in days and wasn’t working with him. He had been with me and telling me he was working when he wasn’t with me.
Then his friend told me that his cat never really died.
I was PISSED. I came home and he was here and I said it’s over I am done with you.
We got into a fight about the crashed car and the business. he said he didn’t want to work the business with his friend anymore and that he was just going to give it to him.
I was really upset now. There were other times where I took off the ring and broke up with him, and it always upset him.
I know I sound like the bad guy in this story….
Anyway, I railed into him and told him to leave and I have him whatever cash I had.
He called me later saying he was going to kill himself. He called me to pick him up and I called his friend to go get him which he saw as a betrayal. He had razors and was threatening to cut himself.
I went to pick him up and didn’t want to take him to my place — meanwhile he said he couldn’t go back to his apartment because of a girl that was there and I guess he had not been paying his rent. So many lied and mixed truths, I don’t know what really happened.
Then, he’s screaming and telling me I never loved him and threatening to cut himself. I tried to take him to the hospital but he wouldn’t go. Then I just left him on the side of the road because he kept jumping out of my car.
I felt so guilty and he showed up at my door an hour later all bloody. I cleaned him up and was so angry at him still. I could not find any compassion in my heart for him.’
(I sound like the sociopath don’t I?)
I felt I was being manipulated by his lies. I don’t know. I woke up the next morning and ripped into him about being weak and not getting his life together and stealing. His friend told me he was smoking pot all the time. That he was really sick all the time taking himself to the emergency room. I thought he might be doing other drugs too. I don’t know anymore.
He left and called me later or texted me saying he wanted to die. I told him he did all this to himself. That I wasn’t trying to keep his money and that I was just angry about all the things that had gone on.
Well I started speaking to people who were telling me yes he stole from the dry cleaners and yes he stole from all his employers including the gym. Though some of the storied were lies and others were half truths. I still couldn’t figure it all out.
He called me from the hospital and I visited him. He didn’t seem suicidal to me. He said he did that so his friend (with the landscaping business) wouldn’t have him arrested which made no sense. He said that is why he couldn’t go back to his apartment. His friend had told me the police were looking for him which turned out not to be true since I called them and they said no they weren’t.
Sigh.. it gets so much worse…..
I called him at the hospital and told him he was a liar and a thief and I wanted nothing to do with him and that I was going to inform his employers he was a thief and that he stole over 3 years of my life. He called me back and told me if i messed with him I would lose everything… where I lived, my business… everything I loved…. and that is what he has been doing… under the guise of love and getting pity out of me and making me feel guilty for having been mean to him.
I ended up getting calls from him on an unfamiliar number after he was released from the hospital. It turned out to be a girl’s number. He was stating he wanted to kill himself and that he was sleeping in the park with these people who were released with him from the hospital.
Oh GOD… it goes on…. and gets worse and worse.
I ended up tracing the number and went looking for him… at this address connected to the number which turned out to be this girl’s parents house who pegged me for a unknown stalker and filed a complaint against me. I was no royally pissed and ended up finding him at a motel with her.
After all we had been through he shacks up with some whore at a motel… I was jealous and pissed and also guilty because I felt I drove him to this. That I somehow played a part in all of it — I did in some ways.
I picked him up from the motel and asked him if this is what he wanted. I would give him whatever money I could. He started crying saying he still loved me and wanted to be with me and he ditched the girl at the motel and came home with me. He cried on the floor and all over the place and begged me to take him to another hospital. Which I did. He was there for a week and I then picked him up and brought him home. I was still pissed about the girl and all the stories of stealing and the car wrecks and the lies about the cats and everything.
We went to my mom’s and she was taking his side which pissed me off. I said how could it be that all these people are lying about you stealing. I just wanted the truth. But he made it out like I was the monster. In some ways I was.
I told him to go back to his whore at the motel if that is the kind of life he wanted to lead.
Well, he started crying again saying I was killing him and that I he was just rying to love me. I felt guilty once again and said I was sorry I was just angry and confused… which I was.
Then, that night he leaves with a bottle of ambien, leaves all his clothes here and takes $420 out of my account. The money I didn’t care about really, but thought well maybe he really is going to kill himself. So I filed a missing persons report…. another big mistake since the police have me on file as a stalker already.
They find him and he tells them he’s happy and well and that I am just a jealous jilted girlfriend (which is not entirely untrue), but I filed the report because he had me so twisted up I didn’t know what was real and what was not.
(to be ocontinued….)
Oh man, then he has his friend file a complaint against me because I had been calling him and going there to drop off his clothes and things. I don’t thing I was harrassing them in anyway. I mean they were both telling me so much lies. I mean if his friend really was lying about him why would he give the business to him? Why would he make up with him right?
Oh it GETS WORSE!!
Once the police came to my house and told me about the call, I was DONE.
Then about 45 minutes later I get a text message from him saying he’s going to be court mandated to a mental institution. Which was yet another lie.
He then tells me he’s out of state. Another lie.
Then he tells me he is right around the corner but had to lie to me to protect himself from me because he was scared of me.
I of course FEEL GUILTY again. And he tells me he wants me to pick him up on such and such date a specific time. I know he is with this girl and this girl’s father (who happend to be a cop) actually told me his daughter was a mentally unstable as he is (meaning my ex). He tells me they are out to destroy my life.
So I don’t go but I figure if I give him more money – he won’t hurt me. I give him about another $600 through meeting him at the train station and putting it in the mailbox.
SIGH.. I wanted him back… I felt so guilty like it was all my fault and that now he was going to go and be happy with someone else. My BOND with him got stronger and stronger…. this crazy love thing. I can’t explain it.
Well – he keeps insisting that I pick him up and that he can’t stand to be without me and only wants me and doesn’t love her.
Okay so I am a sucker and I pick him up. Bring him home. Long story – longer… he’s smoking pot (now I am smoking with him too), then he is using my computer and the laptop and I see him looking at jewelry and starter pistols. I am pissed.
I make up a screen name to text this girl and find out what’s going on. I tell her to send me the emails (she thinks I am him at this point). She send me pictures of them in bed together and all these emails from him about how I am history and how he loves her. I AM FUMING!!!
I tell him she’s sending me this shit and he doesn’t know at that point that I am asking for it. I ASKED FOR IT! I am a moron and a loser. I am the crazy one right?
So I call her a whore and tell her she’s being used and manipulated. Meanwhile they have this devious plan against me I am assuming.
Well, he winds up getting my roommate’s credit card number and charging up all this jewelry and a starter pistol.
He had been saying he is going to commit suicide by cop. He also tried to charge up a hotel for 1500 and more jewelry for 700 but the card gets declined. Once we found out he took the card number, my roommate calls the credit card companies and has all the charges reveresed and calls the Sheriff. (let me remind you I have like three striked aganst me already witht he police 1. this girl’s fater 2. his friend’s complaint 3. him on the missing person’s report saying I am out to get him.
So he plan is to blame me for the charges and get me arrested…. I am now trying to do everything to avoid this.
Then I get the phone call that he is in the hospital again and that he had put a gun in his mouth and his girl found him and brought him to the hospital (she says it was all a hoax because he didn’t have any more money for the room).
Anyway I am again in the middle of lies and feel sorry for him. Yeah I do and the way he sounds is so sincere so real so pitiful. I tell him I am sorry for everything that has gone on and maybe we can forgive each other and start over.
I go visit him in the hospital (mind you the police are looking for him and I filed a statement saying he had a starter pistol).
Ugh It all seems so UNREAL!!! But I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.
Okay so I go see him and he says not to come up… now I know this other girl is there… his next accomplice/victim love of his life that he is going to marry and have kids with and be happy while I am here miserable after 4 years of torment.
I see her leave and just watch… Then a few minutes later he comes running out in his bare socks… he snuck out or he says he busted the doors down. Who knows and there they are walking together. I pull over and look at him like what the hell??? She doesn’t even look at me so I know she’s just nervous. He tells me he broke out! Then all these cops start arriving. I had to go to work… so I leave…. Yes I leave him there with all the cops and shit… Aweful right?
Anyway I call her later and ask her what happened and she tells me they took him back to the hospital.
Which they did and drugged him up and I am like okay enough is enough! I am done with all this.
Then I get another call the next day that he is transferred to yet another hospital!!! Yes back to one of the one’s I took him too.
Like a fool I feel bad and I go visit him for the whole week (cops are still looking for him – you would figure the cops that picked him up would have — whatever…. )
The local cops don’t know anything through and I am too afraid to tell them where he is.
I am still in my mind trying to help him!!
I pick him up from the hospital and we go to a motel – since he can’t come to my house (credit card thing).
I am trying to work it all out saying just apologize you weren’t in your right mind… we can get a place together it will all be alright.
Well we leave that motel the next day and he has me pay for another and go home to get some clothes.
I get back to the motel and he’s GONE!!! I try to get my money back but they won’t reimburse me…. I talk the guy into giving me half back.
UGH!! I feel like the biggest loser on the planet. I feel like maybe I was taken in by him from the beginning and he was just using me. Then I think maybe he really loved me and if only I had been more supportive of him and didn’t hurt him like I did.
So I call the police AGAIN!! To tell them that I was in touch with him and where he was the past few weeks. They are like do you know where he is NOW? Of course I don’t!
But I know he is with her and it is really pissing me off. I took him to get his haircut and he was so happy and I knew it was because he was going to go see her.
All this suicidal bullshit more lies and deception.
Part of me feels I deserve it.
Part of me feels like why should he go live a happy life now I am miserable… He should go to jail for all the crimes he commited. But I am afraid of him now. I am really thinking I am about to lose everything.
My roommate is pissed about the card and really wants me to move, I have not been working my business so it is failing. I am smoking like two packs a day. The cops think I am a crazy stalker who set up her ex boyfriend out of jealousy to get him arrested!!
And I am so depressed, miserable, alone, all my friends think I am nuts, no one will help me. I pray not to wake up in the morning. I think of him happy and frolicking with this other grils and that she is going to get the happy life with him I was supposed to have.
I feel cheated, manipulated, lied to. i feel like an abusive person for how I treated him through the relationshop. I am so confused angry hurt… I just don’t feel like I should live.
I feel like I deserve everything I get.
Please help!
This was a powerful article from the archives, with some good, heartfelt advice. I particularly could relate to what “Fighter” said.
And I wonder, arlenejohnson57, where are you? Your message was so touching I wanted to reach out to you. I genuinely hope this past year has brought healing and peace.
holehearted:
Are you still on Lovefraud? What an incredible story. All I can say is wow, I hope you’re ok, and that you are now NC with this guy, bless your heart. Whew, that was some exciting reading.
As for me, after 6 months I rarely mention his name, I believe he will be in jail within the next 2 years and I will feel some vindication then, albeit also sadness. I am not yet healed, although making progress through new BF, my kids, friends, family, prayers, keeping busy, Lovefraud, and father TIME. Oh, the brown dog helps, too. :>)
Jaiden
A church musician. That’s a good cover. The church is good hunting ground because we are supposed to love, forgive and be tolerant. And, no one expects monsters like this in the church.
I just read a book written by a pastor called, “Sociopaths and Christianity”. Serial killers (like the BTK killer) are raised and bred in the church. The BTK killer was president of his church, leader of boy scouts, devoted family man, highly respected in the community and installed security systems in homes.
Dateline had two recent shows about such Christian spaths. Both, “The Carrolton Plot” and “Deadly Valentine” were about well regarded Christian men who were not what they appeared to be. In the first one, he was a pastor’s son and ordered a vicious murder for hire on his homemaker wife. She survived to tell the details. In the Valentine story, he was a MISSIONARY and personally shot his wife in the head on Valentine’s Day as a gift for his mistress (also in missionary work).
Jenna
Things like that — good looks and wealth — are traps. You see how he traps women with things. Well, Satan traps people like that too. Your x-spath is ensnared in a trap of Satan’s making to bring down many — the women and all who touch their lives. Satan is making a great harvest in that arena for sure.
But, it is not all it appears to be. For instance, some will get free like you and speak against it all. They will do what they can to dismantle Satan’s schemes.
Psalm 73 talks about envying the wicked because of all the stuff and how they seem to prosper. But, then the psalmist goes into the sanctuary and sees their final end. He realizes that he had it all wrong. God sets them in slippery places. They fall to ruin, utterly destroyed without remedy.
My relationship with my ex ended over 2 years ago. We share a son together my son is just over 2 years old now. Although he moved on and has had another baby I have actually heard hes had two babies since the birth of our son. My path to healing has been a long battle. It/he has not stopped. Ive been so determined to not let him beat me but im so tired. I have realised I dont have many true friends maybe not any Ive been forced to question this unfortunately. I feel like Im battling this alone.There has been so much betrayal over the past two years for me. Im broken.Ive almost run out,of answers when does it end?
Hi Sam
Sorry for all your pain. It does seem never-ending, sometimes. And, it seems like all our strength is gone; and, we are at wit’s end corner.
Friends can be helpful; and, when we have them it is wonderful. But, too often, especially in the aftermath of an encounter with a spath, we find ourselves isolated and alone in a scary world. It seems abnormal to us and adds to our feelings of worthlessness.
But, times of solitariness can be good. We can regroup and discover who we really are and what our true values are. Involvement with a spath tends to de-rail our sense of who we are. We need to find that again. Or if we never really knew, then it is a great time to start the journey.
There is no devastation like betrayal. It is soul crippling. We question everything. What was real? How could this happen? etc. etc. We are tormented with the what-ifs and the would’ve, could’ve, should’ves.
The tunnel to recovery can seem so very dark and endless. But, there is an end. It is a process. It is a learning period in our lives. We can come out so much stronger and wiser, if we choose to.
I am believing that you are stronger than you imagine. Hold onto hope.
Jenna
Appearances can be perplexing. We tend to judge God by what we would do, how we would do it and when we would do it. We want it all fixed yesterday. But, for God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. He sees things from an eternal perspective. We view things from the here and now.
I can’t really explain why someone like Hugh Hefner, who has been the instrument of such evil toward women, seems to have continued and prospered. It seems so wrong; and, it sure isn’t the way God designed it to be. So what’s up?
It just isn’t over yet.
God gives us a free will. He does not interfere with that. Many people choose to not choose to do right. They make selfish decisions which hurt others. No one gets a pass. Good people get hurt.
But, all our choices matter. Thoughts become actions, actions become habits, habits become character and character becomes destiny. We forge who we become one choice at a time. We create our destiny by each choice.
God will help us make right decisions which lead to a good life, if we ask Him. He does not begrudge us wisdom. We get in trouble when we don’t seek Him and make our own decisions independent of His wisdom.
These character-disordered ones have been making bad decisions for a long, long time. Sometimes surreptitiously by a double life, sometimes blatantly out in the open.
God allows evil in the world. He allowed the fall of mankind. He could have prevented it. He did not. But, He made a provision for us to be redeemed and delivered from our fallen nature. That is the goodness of God. He didn’t just say, “That’s it!!! I am so done with you! Poof and you’re gone!!” He could have. We would have.
The thing is that when we focus on the evil in the world, it brings us down to its level. It saps us of our strength. It de-rails us and weakens us so that then we despair. In our grief and desperation, we tend to throw in the towel and give up. And, that is just where Satan wants us. So he can come in and take over.
You mentioned weakness earlier. Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He separates the weaker, younger ones from the flock and preys on them. That is why we have to stay close to the Shepherd. We are not strong enough in ourselves to fight off the enemy.
I have also grieved greatly at why God does not immediately zap my xnph. The man is in open defiance to God, hurting people with his selfishness. Why not just snuff him out?! It would be better for everyone (IMHO). Why not strip him of his power, charisma, stuff, etc.?!!
Truth is that my xnph is eroding, imploding. It is slow but certain. When I look at the trajectory of his life and what has happened (which he thinks is good), it is sad and frightening. His bad choices are causing destruction in his life. But, he cannot see it. God has left him and now he is fully out there without God’s protection. He is in a very bad position. When we have made God our enemy, we really don’t have much hope. Well, none.
Satan is the god of this world. He gives stuff and power to people who will serve him. But, he is a cruel task master. He treats worse those who serve him best. He sets people up in this world only to destroy them. That is what he does. Anyone in his clutches is in a very bad place, no matter how it looks.
Appearances can be so deceiving. We think so-and-so has all this money, good-looking women, all these toys of this life — so he must be blessed. Maybe we are judging by the wrong standard. God does not call that man blessed. The truth is that if he is serving Satan, then he is cursed. When a person is cursed (without God’s blessing), then he or she is just one breath away from destruction. It is a slippery slope and an unsure one.
I have gotten a lot of comfort and understanding by reading the Psalms. There is a lot in there about the wicked. King David who penned many of them struggled with the dilemma of evil. Many psalms cry out to God against the wicked. Psalm 109 and 69 come to mind.
I think some of our greatest pain about this is that we want God to take care of it right away and that He must not see or care. That is just not the case. He is long-suffering so that all will come to repentance and none will perish. But, there is an end to His patience. And, He is angry with the wicked every day. Jenna, He will repay. He is a just God and hates wicked way more than we do.
Hold onto good and let God handle the spath in His way, in His time. God is in in control, sovereign and knows what He is doing.
Jenna
OK, so he has all that “great stuff & women” because he pretends to be a great guy. Sounds like sinking sand to me. That is a “house of cards” and can be blown away in a nano-second. Give it time.
Yes, he stole your joy. That is what they do. But, really you relinquished it to him. You can take it back. Don’t let him have the satisfaction of making you miserable. Even if you feel devastated and miserable, put on a good face. Don’t let him see, hear or know how you feel. Pretend, too. Pretend not to care. He certainly doesn’t deserve your care or consideration.
It feels like he made a fool of you. They want to humiliate us. Sick creatures that they are, they feel bigger when they trample on others. How sick and demented is that???!!! Remember, “when a man is cruel he is unkind to his own soul.”
Right now — because you are too close to it — it seems like he is getting away with it, etc. But, if you look at this from the 90,000 foot view, you would see a man shriveling up his soul, destroying his own life and pouring acid on his future opportunities. He is shooting himself in the proverbial foot.
I know you want to see justice done and you would like it NOW. Please just trust God to take care of him. “Vengeance is Mine says the Lord, I will repay.” God can get him back a gazillion times better than we could ever imagine and save us the trouble of going to jail.
It is best for us to take the high road. Let them take the low road if they choose to be stupid. They are only sowing a very bad crop which will come in, for a certainty.
We cannot expect or hope that they will feel or be affected by their evil deeds. Remember, these spaths have NO REMORSE, NO CONSCIENCE. To hope for them to be apologetic, is a effort in futility. But, we don’t have to stoop to their level of inhumanity.
God is a righteous God and a just God. You can bank on the fact that your hateful, cruel x-spath will be brought to justice. It is certain. It is coming. He will feel all the pain which he has inflicted on others and he will be horribly ashamed and it will be too late.
So, Jenna don’t grieve yourself about what a mean fool he is and has been to you. You can move on from this and things will be so much better for you. “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans not for foe or disaster, but for a future full of hope.”
Jenna
Exactly. You have given him enough already, period. And, the best ways of “revenge” are: 1) living well and 2) TOTAL INDIFFERENCE to him as if he NEVER EXISTED.
Consider him DEAD to you. There is nothing that bothers them more than us getting over them and feeling total apathy to them. It starves them. 🙂
Jenna
Are you defending him? That is Stockholm Syndrome.
He is what he is revealing himself to be. Psychopaths don’t become adulterers, perverts, and/or murderers over night. “Imposters and evil men will go from bad to WORSE.” It is their nature.
Misogyny is a state of mind and heart. Maybe his early abandonment issues (the way he viewed things, instead of being grateful)…maybe that is the basis for his hatred of women. WHATEVER it is — it is not normal. He cannot possibly love ANY woman in a normal way for herself. In fact, the better or nicer or kinder or sweeter she is, the more he will despise her. Doesn’t that fit? Haven’t you seen that?
Perhaps in his marriage — when his wife would “upset” him in some way — he vented on other women because he could not do to her what he felt. My x-spath had TONS of rage toward me in our marriage which was not revealed until the divorce process (not that there wasn’t an vicious undercurrent).
Your x-spath’s CONTEMPTUOUS behavior toward you reveals a maliciousness toward women which is very, very dangerous. No woman is safe around him.
I am trying to give you a handle for disengaging from him. I am trying to help you get past personalizing his behavior toward you. When we feel like something was wrong with us because of the way they treated us, we continue the abuse they started by proxy. We do the abuse. They no longer have to do anything. Why should we help them be cruel?
Seeing them for who they are and what they are capable of helps us regain our sense of self-worth which they have trampled upon. Does that make sense?