Editor’s note: The following story was sent to Lovefraud by a man whom we’ll call “Anthony.” He believes his ex-wife is a sociopath. This is part 4 of 4. The story refers to spiritual concepts. Please read Lovefraud’s statement on Spiritual Recovery.
Read: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
Trying to make sense of the insanity:
How could someone behave this way?
At this point I was totally bewildered and completely devastated. Nothing at all made sense to me. I remembered all of the strange events that happened throughout our “relationship,” and I knew that they all tied together somehow, but even the events themselves were so bizarre, that my mind just could not make sense of them. I knew that she was a very sick woman, that’s all.
When I talked to a neighbor a few days after she left, I even told them that there was something very different about this “breakup.” It was nothing like a normal breakup, but it was so much more painful than anything I had ever experienced before. I could not figure out why, so I just thought that it was because I loved her so much. It was not until months later when I began to learn about narcissism, psychopathy, and covert abuse that I learned why I was in such incredible pain. I had been in an abusive relationship for 3 years, and did not even realize it. I was so hooked on her, emotionally addicted, and determined to show her how much I loved her, so that when she left, there was so much more there above and beyond the loss of a relationship, which actually never existed in the first place. It was this addiction and the emotional abuse of the past 3 years that caused the much deeper pain during the breakup. It’s not an easy concept to accept and to truly understand, but it is what happens, and it was the reason for very difficult time that I had at this point.
Trying to make sense of the insanity:
Discovery of Narcissism
It was several months after she left, and I was still clueless to what had happened to me, and still knew nothing about why it happened. I was visiting a friend, and we were talking about this. When I explained to her that I finally got hard evidence that my wife was cheating in her office during the workday, and when I lovingly (well, as lovingly as possible under those circumstances) confronted her, she turned it around on me, called me crazy, and still denied it. My friend’s response was, “She will never admit it. She’s a narcissist!” I remembered that this was the very thing that my attorney said when we talked months earlier, but I dismissed it then, because I had the wrong impression of what a narcissist really is.
I thought I knew what a narcissist was, but when I began to really read about it, I was shocked to find that it explained much of what I had experienced. I thought I had finally found it! I learned about the defense mechanisms like projection, then understood exactly why she accused me of the very things that I suspected she might be doing, and I learned that she actually told me many things about her own thoughts and actions when she accused me of these things. So much about my strange experience suddenly wasn’t totally strange! I went from total confusion, to a point where things actually began to make sense. What an incredible day that was for me. I cannot begin to explain how it felt to finally be able to make sense of the hell that I had experienced in this, and to start to resolve the cognitive dissonance that I had been carrying around for years.
Although much of this disorder fit my wife’s behavior, there were some things about Narcissism that did not fit her at all. This is sometimes normal because these disorders are not black and white, all or nothing, but the traits fall on a continuum. Some are more pronounced in some people, and not in others. Actually, there is a grouping of disorders that are similar, called cluster b disorders, including Anti Social Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Histrionic Personality Disorder. This is the official grouping by the American Psychological Association. These disorders share similar traits, and the disordered share similar coping mechanisms.
I had heard about this cluster in the past, but like most people, knew little about it. While much of my problem was explained through narcissism, there were some basic things about narcissism that did not fit my wife at all. Mostly, narcissists are totally focused on their image, so they want the very best of anything that will make them look good. This could be cars, houses, clothes, or other things. They often brag about accomplishment and\or events that never really existed, or about credentials that they do not actually have. They want to be seen with powerful and successful people to make them look good. None of this fit my wife. She drove an old van, and while she was very attractive and spent money on her hair and nails at times, she did not put much importance on having nice new clothes, or the best of anything, really. I had trouble with this, because it showed that she may not actually be a narcissist, or at least not to such a degree, but still, most of the strange events were clearly explained by this disorder, including the bizarre projections, the covert abuse, the mind games, and relationship phases of idealization, devaluing, and finally discarding. Narcissists are also known for coldly smearing their victim’s names and reputations in the end, in an attempt to shift the focus and blame off of themselves.
Trying to make sense of the insanity:
Discovery of Psychopathy
So while I studied Narcissism, and was learning a great deal about what happened to me, I came across the website Lovefraud.com. This site was created by Donna Andersen, who was victimized by a man that she believes is a sociopath. As I read the stories, so much of them mirrored my own story, and the traits of a sociopath matched my wife’s perfectly. Sociopaths are also known as psychopaths, and the disorder is in the cluster b disorders, but now the APA calls them Anti-Social Personality Disorder. They are clustered together with NPD (narcissistic Personality Disorder). They are all closely related, and as far as I’m concerned (and so many others who have been victimized and nearly destroyed by these sick predators), it’s pure evil.
Now I finally knew exactly what happened to me. I began to learn why it happened to me, also. These people target their victims because of weaknesses that they quickly find in the potential target. They have spent their entire lives putting on facades and preying upon others, so they become very skilled at manipulation, and at quickly evaluating a potential target, to determine where their weaknesses are. They then exploit those weaknesses as they put on whatever facade is needed to gain whatever they seek from the victim. They are masters of this game, because they have had to be in order to survive, and because they have perfected this game over their entire lifetime.
I began reading everything that I could find on the subject, and before it was over, I probably owned and read a dozen of the top rated books about psychopathy, by authors like Dr. Robert Hare, Harvey Cleckly, Sandra Brown, and Thomas Sheridan. In addition, I found some excellent websites, and probably spent hundreds of hours studying over the 18 months that I spent learning about this disorder. It was such a liberating thing to gain understanding after being in a total fog for so long. I finally knew, I clearly understood, and I have learned things that are truly priceless. Yes, I was pretty beat up, and yes, I went through absolute hell, but I finally see it. I will never have to go back to that ugly place again. I know what they are, I know how they operate, and I know how many of them are actually out there, everywhere. I’m no longer easy prey, and I hope to educate as many others as possible about this. The only way to fight this is to shine the light of truth on it, and expose it.
Understanding the Bizarre Behaviors:
Projection
Projection is a defense mechanism that is used by the disordered to give relief on a sub conscience level for bad feelings that are the result of their own thoughts and actions. To relieve themselves of those bad or uncomfortable feelings, they project their own defects onto others. The result is that they blame others for exactly what they themselves are thinking and doing. Being on the receiving end of these projections is truly a bizarre thing to experience.
I’m still a little unclear about this, because the disordered person has no conscience or empathy at all. They do not care at all about others. How then do they feel uncomfortable feelings about what they are thinking and doing? I am not sure, but I know that I experienced this with my disordered person on probably 5 or 6 different occasions. These occasions were times when we were having emotional discussions about our relationship, she was therefore under stress, and she would accuse me of things that I felt that she must actually be thinking or may have done herself. I had good reason to think that she may be thinking or feeling these things, yet she accused me of those very things, and completely without merit. It was baffling to me.
I saw her complete lack of empathy, and her actions clearly showed that she did not care about how her behavior would crush me. She actually enjoyed getting over on me, and doing what she was behind my back. Why then would she need to use projection in those moments when discussions were heating up about things between us not being “right?” I do not understand this, but there is no doubt that, when we were arguing about the things that I felt were very wrong with our “relationship,” and she was under stress, she projected onto me on many occasions. Not understanding what was happening, but definitely understanding that something very odd was taking place, I could only make mental notes, and try to make sense of something so bizarre.
One of the first times that I can remember that projection was used by my wife was when we were having a heated discussion about her daughter and how I thought that our family was out of order, and she said something like, “you never loved me. I think you wanted to love me, but you don’t know how.” And she also said, “You only married me to prove something to your ex-wife,” and “This whole marriage is a lie.”
I remember stopping and trying to figure how something like this could come out of her mouth when I constantly made every effort to show her how much she meant to me. I deeply loved her, and I made a conscience effort to show her, almost on a daily basis. I knew that her accusations were completely base-less, and even absurd considering how I treated her. I knew that there was something significant about these exchanges, but I just could not make sense of them. I figured that she must have been thinking and feeling these exact things, but was completely puzzled as to what was really happening. If she were thinking and feeling these things, why in the world would she accuse me of them? It just made no sense!
These exchanges were the oddest things for me. I am a very logical person, with a background in computer science, so I tried to make sense of this, but from a logical point of view. Not having a clue about what I was dealing with, I just could not understand what was happening. The truth is, this disorder and everything about it, is anything but logical. It is completely illogical, and we are dealing with people who are actually insane. They are not out of touch with reality (a psychotic), but they absolutely are insane. You can never figure out what is happening while you are trying to figure it out from a normal person’s perspective. Not until you understand that you are actually dealing with insanity, will you even begin to get your mind around what is happening. It is truly bizarre.
Understanding the Bizarre Behaviors:
Duping Delight
This was one of the most hurtful aspects of my “relationship” with this sick woman, and until a few months ago, I had not yet learned of the term to describe it. I suspected throughout our “relationship” that I knew what was happening, and as time went on, more cracks in her pot became visible, and I began to slowly put it all together. I became more and more convinced that things were not at all as they seemed. If that was not enough to deal with, there were many times that I felt that she was actually covertly rubbing it in my face that she was getting over on me, carrying on an illicit and disgusting sexual affair, and I was clueless (or at least she thought that I was). These instances clearly demonstrate how these people think, how they view life as nothing more than a game, and how they enjoy destroying others in their quest for dominance, power, and control. These instances are clear proof to me that what I was dealing with was a very sick and a very evil woman, and it is hard to even get my mind around the fact that this woman is this way. Had I not experienced it for myself, I would probably not believe it. This is a very beautiful woman on the outside, but a rotting soul on the inside.
Duping delight is the term to describe one of the tools used by these sick people, and I believe that this tool alone shows that what we are dealing with is actually pure evil. There is no poor judgment, or bad choices here. When someone is such a cold and sick person to manipulate and deceive someone, then to make a sport of it for their own sense of power, control, and amusement, they clearly demonstrate purely evil behavior. Nothing anybody can say will ever change my mind about this.
One of the first instances of this that I can remember is around several conversations that we had about fitness. She was never an active woman when I knew her, and a typical evening for her was to sit in front of the TV and watch any of her 15 favorite TV shows. She was very close to a couch potato, and I wanted us to be a little healthier. I explained that I wanted to grow old with her, and I framed the discussions as positively as possible, hoping to encourage her to be more active with me. Most of the time, we sat on the couch and watched TV, hardly ever walked around the neighborhood, and only rode our brand new bikes once or twice.
During one of these conversations when I was gently nudging her to do something like take a walk to get us a little exercise, she told me that she got exercise during the day at her office. She said that she closed the door in the middle of the day, and exercised. Now this was towards the end, when I was pretty sure that she was seriously deceiving me, and may be having sex in her office during the day (I had eliminated all other possibilities). I played along, though, laughing at the thought of her doing push-ups in her office, saying something to the effect that I’d love to be a fly on the wall to see something so funny. I thought about what she said, and I could not believe that she’d think that I would believe that she’d close her door and exercise in her office during the work day, when she was a total couch potato for the entire time that I was around her, and all the way back since I met her. It’s just ludicrous that someone would even think that story was even close to plausible.
Just weeks later, I found out, without a shred of doubt, that the exercise that she was getting was mostly from behind as she let her boss use her like a piece of trash. The fact that she was doing it was not enough power and excitement for her, she had to take her sick games to the next level. She had to covertly rub it in my face that she was screwing in her office, and getting away with it, while her loving, faithful, and clueless husband was being made the idiot, or at least she thought so.
One trait of a psychopath is that they are easily bored, and this is a large part of why they are ALL sexually promiscuous: the need for excitement. I think it is also worth pointing out that they carry out their “duping delight” games not only as an exhibit of dominance and control, but also as simple entertainment for themselves. I bet she almost wet her paints when I made the comment about being a fly on the wall while she “got her exercise,” but I know she wasn’t laughing when I exposed her for the cheating, lying, deceitful woman that she is.
Another good example of duping delight happened one evening while we were being couch potatoes, and watching Jeopardy. This episode was about the game of golf. Now to our knowledge, she had never played the game. None of her past (known) boyfriends were golfers, nor were her husbands. Still, as the questions were read, she answered many of them correctly, and with smugness, as she played her game, and toyed with me. She knew all about the game of golf, the swings, the different clubs, when to use them, scoring, and so on. I played along, asking her how she knew all of this, and she just explained it away as luck or something. Again, this was towards the end, so I knew what she was likely doing with me, and figured that she had cheated with at least one man who was a golfer. Low and behold, when I busted her, the married trash that had been doing her in her office for years was, you guessed it, and avid golfer. Gee, what a coincidence. I think not.
These two examples show clearly how very sick and depraved these people really are. It’s not enough to do what they do to innocent, loving, and trusting people. They have to take it up a few notches with their sick and twisted games.
How anybody can say that this is not absolute evil is beyond me. Sam Vaknin (Malignant Self Love) says that narcissist are not evil. Tornados and tigers hurt people, just like narcissists, and they are not evil. They are only doing what tornados and tigers do. It only stands to reason, then, that narcissists, just doing what narcissists do, like tigers or tornados, are not evil either. I guess we could apply this very logic to someone else, lets say, Adolf Hitler. Hitler just did want anyone like Hitler would do. He wasn’t evil, he was just doing what he does. It’s a ridiculous argument.
These people know exactly what they are doing. They know very well that they are destroying families, and innocent lives, but it never bothers them one bit, because they lack the very things that make us human to begin with: empathy and the ability to love. Just because they do not care (it does not bother them in the slightest), does not make what they do any less evil. Furthermore, considering how they ACTUALLY ENJOY what they are doing, which is clearly demonstrated in their “duping delight,” when someone tries to call this anything less than absolute evil, it almost makes me furious!
If this experience has taught me one thing, it is that evil exists in this world, not only in things that are blatantly obvious, like someone flying an airplane into a building full of innocent people, but even more so, in people and places that most would never expect to find it.
Understanding the Bizarre Behaviors:
Idealization, Devaluing, and Discarding
Another common theme with many of the cluster b disordered individuals (NPD, ASPD, HPD, BPD), is that relationships with these people all follow the same progression. There are three phases that make up this relational progression: idealization, devaluing, and discarding.
During the idealization phase, the disordered is treating their partner as if they are the best thing that they have ever known. This is at least partly because they are in the process of hooking the victim. They are very skilled at sizing up a victim, quickly learning what the person wants and needs, and then becoming exactly what is needed to ensure that the victim is hooked. This is important, because it is this bond to the disordered that will ensure that the victim remains once the abuse starts in the next phases of the relationship, the devaluing phase.
Immediately after the victim is hooked, the disordered will begin to devalue the victim. This may be a gradual process, and it will likely begin with little comments at opportune times, when the victim is made to feel less-then in some way, or made to feel not quite good enough. Other ways that the disordered may devalue the victim is through the use of other abusive tools of the trade used by the disordered. These tools include manipulation, projection, gaslighting (making the victim think that they are crazy, and that the problems are because of them), duping delight, dishonesty (lies, some of them for no other reason that it is entertaining to them), subtle put downs, deception, and deceit.
For someone who has not been through this, one might think, “I’d pack my bags as soon as someone began to treat me this way!” I would think that very same thing. What needs to be understood is that these tactics are never overtly used, in blatant, obvious ways. Disordered people are very skilled at this game, so they know how to be very subtle in what they are doing, and they are able to blend enough good in the mix so that the victim usually does not even notice what is happening to them. What ends up happening in the “relationship”, is that the victim begins trying to compensate and correct, to restore the “relationship” to what “it was” in the beginning. The only problem is that, the victim does not yet know that their entire “relationship” was never real to begin with, and therefore can never be “restored” to its original state. Still, the victim begins buying into the lies, and jumping through hoops, trying to appease the disordered in some way. This is all in an effort to resurrect the perfect person and “relationship” that they once had.
The final stage of relationships with the disordered is brought about in one of two cases. The first case is when the victim no longer of any use to the predator, usually because they have either gotten what they wanted, or because whatever they wanted has been all used up. The other case is when the predator is found out, the mask is removed, and the game is up. Either way, the victim is callously discarded like yesterday’s trash. This is a very difficult thing to experience, and it often drives the victim to the point of suicide.
This relational progression took place in my “relationship” in the same way that it did in all of the other cases that I have read about. It is amazing how similar all of our stories are. The details may be different, but the stories are almost identical, and there are hundreds of them, probably many times more, but most are not talked about.
The discarding was the most incredibly painful experience. I honestly thought we loved and cared for each other. When I discovered the hard evidence of what she was doing, and when I still offered mercy, forgiveness, and a chance to make it all right, but instead, got it all turned around on me, more lies and deceit to shift the blame, and coldly discarded, it was emotional pain like nothing I have ever experienced.
It is only by God’s grace that I made it through alive. Had I not had Him, and the key people that He put in my path, I am certain that I would have at least taken my own life, possibly much more. When I hear of any of the very common tragedies in the news today, I understand exactly why these things are taking place. The world is not a nice place, but is full of evil, much of it well hidden in places that one would never suspect, and it is going to continue to get worse. It is this evil that is destroying so much good in the world, and these sick people are a huge part of the problem.
Understanding the Bizarre Behaviors:
The Smear Campaign
When one of these people is either found out, or when they have completely used up the victim, and thus have discarded them, the smear campaign is sure to follow. This is because they must maintain cover for what they are, out of the basic need for survival. In order to do this, blame must be shifted. For the victim, this is like the final nails in their coffin.
Try to imagine going through a “relationship” with one of these sick people, being covertly abused, having been idealized, then slowly devalued for years, and finally discarded like a worthless piece of trash once you prove that this person, whom you genuinely and deeply loved, had been doing something like screwing their boss the entire time. Imagine the depth of pain and confusion that you’d feel at that time (believe me, it is more painful than you can imaging).
Now try to imagine how you would feel, if you were in this state, and you also had to deal with this person, whom you loved and cherished, and whom you thought loved you, begin to spread lies about you to your friends, family, and neighbors, to explain the breakup. These people are ruthless, and they lie as easily as they breathe, so they will not hesitate to do this, because it serves their purpose. That is the only thing that ever matters to them. It is completely devastating to the victim.
God only knows what this woman told people to explain what happened, but I could see that she told them something. I did not understand what was happening until months later, when I learned about psychopathy, and read the many other stories of this very thing happening. Still, I knew that she was spreading these lies, and completely denying the truth. My neighbors would no longer let their daughters have sleep-overs with my daughters at our house, and when we were in mediation for property division, the mediator came back in from her room saying that she’s getting 2 completely different stories about what happened. I did not even ask the mediator what she was being told.
It really doesn’t matter what she had been saying. It’s all a pack of lies from a severely disordered woman. I know that she is going to pay for what she did to me and my children. God is not mocked, and she mocked Him throughout this entire “relationship” and marriage, and throughout the process to end it. I know that I did my part to try to help her, and I deeply and genuinely loved her. I showed unconditional love and mercy, and I know that God was pleased with that. I was so very good to her, but she repaid my good with evil, all the way to the very end. It may be a game to her now, but it won’t be forever. If these people even have a soul, when their number is up, they will be reminded of the lives that they destroyed while they played their games.
I honestly think the only way we can make sense out of some of these behaviors that seem bizarre to us, like projection, is to realize that with these people everything is about power. When they know the truth and you don’t, that is a form of power. When they are confronted and their response is to project, it is all about displacing their own uncomfortable feelings of powerlessness onto YOU. That way, they are not the crazy one, or the bad one, they turn it around so YOU become all of those things, and they feel a sense of power by putting you off-balance, by putting YOU on the defensive. The smear campaign is about isolating you from anyone who could be helpful, and instead making them allies of the disordered person. This is all about protecting their own image of themselves, and it is also very sadistic, a way of making you suffer not just by their actions but by proxy. Even the people they keep close to themselves, who look like their allies, are being manipulated because this person can trust NO ONE. This is something I just recently began to understand.
Everything they do can be explained in terms of just maintaining power and control over another human being by any means necessary, with the added bonus of subjecting you to cruel and unusual punishment. This is how all of the personality disorders operate, out of damage of some kind, and with sociopaths, because they were born that way. There is a lot of rage and hostility in their worlds, but they are very good at hiding it. I believe that it is that hostility and lack of empathy that comes across to us as pure evil.
These are people that cannot trust or love anyone else. All of their relationships are based on manipulation, used to keep themselves in power, in the driver’s seat, at all times. They actually hate themselves, and everyone else, who they look upon as suckers because they are so easily manipulated. They use manipulation not only for power, but as a way to vent their hostility and rage, and shield themselves from any consequences of their actions. Any attempt to get through to them will just be ridiculed in their evil little “hearts.”
For example, I had a stepfather who was a sociopath. He was married to my mother and was in my family for ten years. Only at the end of those ten years did the facade appear to crumble in my eyes, as the oldest child. When I was 19 and away at college he left my mother, after my youngest sister finally exposed that he had been sexually abusing her since she was 3 years old, which was when he first came into our family. I had always liked him and looked upon him as a father figure, since my father had died. I never saw him again. I never actually saw the EVIL, although certainly other family members did, especially my mother. After that, she always referred to him as “the psychopath.”
I had seen a few things I had started to have some questions about, which were mostly concerned with how he spent money. It also turned out that during these years my mother had received a sizable inheritance from her mother, and boy, did he ever help her spend it, looking back on things. Now, my mother is a strong woman, but she was also a narcissist who neglected her children’s emotional needs. I later found out that when she and the psychopath started dating, my grandmother had said to her “you watch him around the little girls!” She actually told me this a couple of years before she died, and it turned my stomach that she had actually been warned and turned a blind eye. He also cheated on her with her best friend, as well as next-door neighbors. She put him through school (on the GI bill) while she worked full-time and he spent his time studying and hanging out at home. He also liked to party and he and my mother entertained many of his younger friends, smoking marijuana and dabbling in other drugs.
As soon as he graduated, he got a job in another town about a 100 miles away, so my family moved while I stayed in the same town at college. My mother actually got to stay home with her other three children, the youngest child, a boy, was his. When the shit hit the fan two years later, it came up that he had already begun a relationship with a woman he worked with, who also left behind her husband and 1-year-old son to be with him.
So you can see here the substance abuse, sex addictions, the molestation, the psychological and emotional abuse of my mother and youngest sister, the abandonment of his own son, and his parasitic lifestyle living off my mother and helping himself to her inheritance, leaving behind his own 6-year-old son. He never paid alimony, and minimal child support to his son. My mother made him sign an agreement that he was responsible for paying for his son’s college education. The psychopath’s own mother was married to a very wealthy man, and when she died she had also left money to her grandson. The psychopath manipulated his son into not attending her funeral, and manipulated his own son into signing away his inheritance. Yes, he stole his own son’s inheritance!
And of course he left my younger brother in debt after promising to pay for his education.
I don’t doubt that although very intelligent, handsome, high-functioning, and charming, as well as having lots of friends, that this man was a psychopath.
It has now been over 40 years since I last laid eyes on this man, but the damage to my family continues. In the last ten years I have had to come to grips with the fact that both of my younger siblings are personality-disordered. I was the oldest child and felt well-loved and respected by my siblings. I had an especially close relationship with my nearest sister, because we are only two years apart. As soon as I became sick and disabled, I was pounced on like a pack of wolves singling out the weakest member. I never saw it coming, and never would have believed it if you told me what was coming. My youngest sister is extremely high-functioning, in spite of her molestation and a later problem with alcoholism, she became a medical doctor and a psychiatrist. Because of that, she had a lot of clout when she started to manipulate my other sister so she could destroy the close relationship we always had. It began to happen as soon as my sister moved to the same town, where they could raise their children together. Before that, I had visited my younger sister many times and thought we had a close relationship. But then I got scapegoated and smeared by her. My sweet little brother became hostile and narcissistic. It has taken me most of the last 5 years to start to understand what is going on here, and why I have been cut off from half of my family. I began to learn a lot after coming here to lovefraud, just to start to understand what has been going on in my family.
I have been the object of the smear campaign, the projection, the silent treatment, the splitting, the manipulation and the hostility, and I could not sort it out until I came here to lovefraud four years ago. By then the only person in my family I had contact with was my mother, and because I was disabled and no longer working, I moved back home to spend time with her. Although she could be very passive aggressive and callous at times, she was also always very honest with me. She did love her children. She could not see the dysfunction I was starting to wrap my head around. She was never one for a lot of self-awareness, although she was very intelligent. She basically refused to see anything wrong, and I got so angry with her over it that I cut off contact after 2 years, and did not see her that last year of her life. I was just too depressed, crushed, and felt like no one would respect my boundaries or have an honest conversation with me. I had sparse contact with 2 of my siblings, but things were still very strained, so I just disconnected so I could not be hurt anymore.
When my mother became terminally ill, I got back in touch with my closest sister, who I found out was dealing with an alcoholic, parasitic husband who refused to get a job after she moved to the same town as my youngest sister. Every single one of the children married a parasite who wanted us to do the work! She felt trapped in the situation because she travels a lot in her job, and she still has one child in high school. But she is planning to divorce this guy, even though he still continues to act like he will not take responsibility for himself,even though he knows his free ride is coming to an end.
I have tried to make her see the problems in our other two siblings, which she cannot see even though she’s a psych nurse. My other sister finally showed her hand when I sent Christmas gifts to my niece and nephews, and the packages got switched. Of course my closest sister made sure her nephews got their package in time for Xmas, but the disordered sister held on to the package I sent to her by mistake, and didn’t give it to her own niece and nephew until June! I finally told her, you can see why she did that, don’t you?
And she finally admitted that yes, my younger sister had scapegoated me. My younger sister outed herself because she could not control her hostility toward me, and rubbed it not only in my face, but in the rest of the family, including her niece and nephew she withheld the gifts from! She was not able to maintain the facade. I had proof of her bad behavior.
I finally got proof of my brother’s bad behavior when I wrote him an email calling him out on a few things, one of which was owing me money I lent him years ago. He’s a pathological liar, and has had two girlfriends in a row, one that he lived with, without telling either of them he was still married. He is a love-bomber par excellance, charming and funny, the life of the party, but is also not “there” unless you are in the same room with him. I also realized that no matter how hard I tried to get in touch with him, he never responded, not to phone calls, emails, or texts. I found out he had gotten married again when I found him on Facebook. That was the last straw, to me! The response I got back when I emailed him revealed to me who he was, who I suspected he was, for you don’t ever confront a narcissist without feeling the full venting of their rage, denial, and projection. I finally felt some vindication in my judgement of him. I had hard evidence, in writing. There have been red flags flying for quite a while, there. He is also the son of a psychopath, but I didn’t see these problems till he turned 40.
But my closer sister still continues to deny and minimize the damage that has been done, and since I live 5 hours away and am too disabled to travel, I almost never see her. My problem is that I don’t feel safe as long as my younger sister is still “close” to her. I don’t feel safe as long as she sees nothing wrong with who my brother has become. Of course she has been manipulated by both of them, and that can be hard to admit, but I see the power my younger sister has over her. It’s crystal clear to me now. I wrote her an extremely long letter about my feelings and experiences, to basically tell her that I now have a bottom line, and I have to know if i can trust her no matter what these other people do. That I want no contact with them, or them with me, and I do not want to even hear about them. That I can’t take any more abuse, especially with her as their unwitting proxy. That a relationship with her is very important to me, but difficult under the circumstances. The trust that was broken so many years ago has never really been healed, and that it was taken away from us by my other sister’s manipulations. Frankly, I’m terrified to send it, but at some point I have to. I always wanted to have this conversation face-to-face, but I have only seen her twice in the last 4 years.
She is all I have left of my family, except for her children, my niece and nephew that I haven’t seen in eight years. It may alienate her if she can’t handle my honesty, but without that honesty, there is no basis for trust.
I do feel vindicated in that all my suspicions have been proven, and that both of these people have outed themselves at least because they could not contain their hostility. I understand that they are both products of their childhood and genetic inheritance, but I no longer have any sympathy for them because of their actions toward me. For a long time I thought I had done something wrong, and just tried harder to make up for it in some way, but now I know better. That has been psychological validation to me, and I feel that I have a pretty good understanding of who they really are, and can turn my back without any further self doubt. That certainty means a lot to me. It’s just sad to lose your family this way. I never thought these things would happen after these people became adults, because my family was always close. Not any more. I have grieved for that a long time. It’s clear to me now that damage like this goes on for generations.
7stepstoheaven- you have certainly had more than your share of disordered people in your life. And yes, the damage can go on for generations. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I hope your understanding will help you let them all go.
7steps welcome to the LF community! Thank you for being here and for your insights they are astonishing me as you are describing the mechanics of my abuser’s behaviours so accurately, with such clarity. I’m only a third into your post but wanted to respond already. Glad to have you with us. Peace and love to you as you move forward to the life you deserve.
Thank you Donna. I’m so glad I found your site. I’m already feeling comfortable here and am so appreciative to you and your team. This is by far the best resource I’ve found on the subject . Tea Light I’m sure you’re right, this certainly can apply to both sexes. As far as rethinking our societal perceptions, no argument here. Unfortunately the wind seems to be blowing the other direction. The key for me is not embracing the norms especially when they seem to be drifting from what my values are guiding me to do. 7steps I was thinking along the same lines that those behaviors are likely to just keep you on the defensive or distracted and weakened.
welcome 7steps!
Thanks blossom! I started coming here 4 years ago but I took a break for a while, and came back!
Your post is extremely powerful 7 steps, you face your history with such intelligence and resilience.
wow this has been one of the best stories on this site,The detail in this has hit home in so many ways, in the last year alone the female sociopath has come to the front of the line instead of hiding in the shadows, more and more the media has accepted that they exist and have been eager to bring it to light,when i wrote about my relationship with a female sociopath she used it to attack me (shocker) it was expected, they hate when the truth comes out! i found one of the best tools to confront a spath with is a well documented truth, when they cant hide behind there lies and false fronts they quickly run to another victim or famously lay low for a period so they have a break in there actions
It seems sociopathy is an equal opportunity thing then? Or maybe that should be opportunistic.Any gender, shape, size, race, religion, orientation. Like shape shifters they move and change to suit their wants. The only way of telling is the trail of devastation in their wake?
That scares me so much. I don’t ever want another one in my life
This sounds almost exactly like my husband’s ex. Only he stayed with her longer because they had children. He felt like he could not leave them with her because we all know that Judges like to keep the children with the mother. She is pure evil. She vowed that she would turn the kids against him and it’s working on 1 of them so far. We’ve had no contact with his son. His older daughter is still defending her and calling my husband with “Why are you doing this to Mom”? As if she is the victim. That’s what we are dealing with now…the kids believing her lies. Thanks so much for your story. It’s so important to get this out in the open to help other people.
Annie k
Your story is familiar to mine. Basically you are da*med if you do. And da*med if you don’t! Sociopaths are miserable people. Miserable. Sometimes it’s even hard to see them as humans, with all the pre-planned damage they do, they seem more like preprogrammed robots, that only forge ahead to destroy others. The sociopath I deal with (my husbands ex wife, sometimes he will post on LF, but he rather just pretend she doesn’t exist and venting about her abuse is hard for him. I can understand why he wants to erase her and any memories of her out of his mind. She maybe a woman but she is a predator. She text about 20-30 times a day, even though divorce was final over 6 years and been separated for over 10.
He has no contact with her, now that the children are older and have their own phones, and are more mature than their mother. He communicates they them. To try to communicate or co parent with her is impossible. When my husband use to attempt to co parent with her, she intentionally sabotaged plans with the kids and their dad. It’s been about a solid year that he literally has not responded to any text or calls. She has made up lies about the kids. Once saying the 14 year old daughter found a lump in her breast, and they were at the doctor getting biopsy, and she had to have removed, and was having surgery that next day. We knew it was a lie. Have you ever heard of a biopsy being done and getting results back in 15 minutes. That was the final straw for my husband. He will not respond to her. Yet she still tries… She still tried to make my husband feel guilty regarding kids. But we speak to the kids all the time and it’s all a lie. Everything she says. I am pretty sure she thinks she is a genius and my husband and I are stoopid¿? (Lol)
When it comes to my husbands sociopathic ex wife, we basically live by the creed “guilty until proven innocent” . She has caused my husband so many problems. Financially, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. My husband is not her only victim. ANYONE who this woman befriends, or comes in contact with gets abused by her in some way. She is very abusive to her elderly mother and step father. It’s so sad. She neglects the younger child, but glorifies the older one. It’s really strange why she does this… The younger child is starting to have problems. Because of the neglect by his mother. And of course the sociopathic mother text my husband and sometimes even me, saying now he is depressed and bi polar and it is cause his dad fights with his mom. Which there is no fighting going on, my husband chooses to have NO CONTACT with her, but he never talks badly of her to children, and if he sees her he isn’t rude, he just doesn’t acknowledge her.
She thinks telling my husband that his son is depressed and sad because of his dad will make him feel guilty. My husband knows that his son is not depressed and if he is, it’s his ex wife’s fault, and if it was a real problem he has already said that he will take her to court and get custody of his son full time – IF he is so depressed and dysfunctional from living with his mother
But she would deny any wrong doing ever. She refers to her children’s father as a deadbeat dad. Obviously just to get a reaction from him or at the point a Response…. She is so so so desperate to get him to respond to her text messages (SHE HAS TAKEN DESPERATION TO A NEW LEVEL). She use to upset me. But after dealing with her so long, and educating myself on disordered cluster B’ personalities such as her, I have finally come to terms with her and all her antics. Sociopaths are fairly predictable. She uses the same manipulation tactics over and over. It is only the topic that changes. Example; When she doesn’t get a reaction or response from telling my husband that his son has locked himself in the closet and is crying because his dad won’t come to her house for Christmas, she moves on to trying to guilt him by saying his son is failing school because he is so distraught over his dad refusing to co parent with her. **see same old tactic – different scenario
Hi, person with exwife sociopath.
Myself also, ex-wife sociopath. And I even caught her in bed with our older boy, then 12 years of age, 2 days after she was served with the dissolution, and containing the allegation of sexual abuse on the children. Washington State (King County) did back flips to get her off from prosecution. It was like watching acrobats.
But I cant help but notice you typed in a huge volume of write up, when you had no children with her. And it only lasted a few years. it could have been so much worse.
This may sound really harsh, and I don’t mean it to be harsh;
it was a lesson, you may have needed to learn or re-learn.
As for your clueless social worker/counselor, I doubt seriously, she was that clueless. That would be like you as a programmer, not being able to translate decimal to hex.
The lady counselor was NOT clueless, but rather she was (and is)GENDER BIASED. Its common in today’s failing society to find people in profession positions of power to commonly abuse that power along geneder lines. Especially by female professionals.
Bias is the most common form of professionals running a scam. The counselor just could not bring herself to come down on your ex-wife, due to her gender bias. So she did the most common and easiest form of the act of Bias as a professional; She played dumb.
You can file a complaint to the medical licensing board, and note the emotional damages to you this caused. I would. Review everything first. Get copies of the medical records of your counseling before you let this “professional” know you are pursing a complaint.
And think it through and document things, and have some well-adjusted people on your side, read your statment and comment, before submitting to the medical board.
Again if you file such a complaint, follow through, and insist that you be informed of the hearing, and attend it and speak up. Considering bringing an attorney with you to the hearing.
Wow sounds similar to what I’m experiencing with my wife odd behaviour all the matching traits,only thing I don’t have hard evidence is the cheating,I know she is cheating got the gut feeling that won’t let me go,been enduring this abuse for nearly 15 years now…planning my escape its a hard 1 we have 3 lovely girls or I hope they mine??? Anyway pray for me that God will deliver me from this deceptive,manipulative,sociopathic woman…blessings Angelo
Many females can be gender biased as they have this belief that women cannot do things like this to big strong men, (no offense ladies im not claiming any of you on here are like this) Its difficult for a man to come out and admit he was abused first of all, second of all many people will not believe him.
I had a female counselor and thankfully she wasnt biased, actually she is the one that pointed out to me that i was in an abusive relationship with a BPD/NPD woman. The only reason i even went is because the courts ordered me to have a mental health assessment done because of things my ex had said and emails she showed them from me that showed me jumping all over the place with my emotions, well of course i did, when you deal with the disordered its like being on an emotional rollercoaster which causes you to do the same, of course she did not show them any of her emails she sent to me. She had a CPO on me then invited me over all weekend for sex then had me arrested on a violation, then called my best friend crying claiming she never wanted me to go to jail, yet gave the presecutor all these emails i sent her, thus making me look like the crazy one.
My CPO after 2 years now finally drops feb 25th (thank God) I found out later that she started chasing a married man and sleeping with him, then got him to move in with her, then my kids told me they were arguing constantly (same issue i had with her) then when he left her and went back to his wife she called me after keeping me from my kids for 6 months, trying to boo hoo to me on the phone about how he did her dirty LOL,,,i told her “thats what you get for messing with a married man” She then said how he had trust issues with her around other men (again another issue i had with her too) She even called me crying the next day claiming she does not want to be a dishonest person anymore as it causes too much bullshit in her life and wants to air out her dirty laundry and admitted to me she was constantly looking for another boyfriend during the 10 years i was with her and how it was wrong of her to do me like that yet ended it with BUT (here comes the blame game) that i made her miserable the whole time. Once she seen i was not falling for this BS anymore she split me back in the all bad category then tried to screw me in court last month during my visitation rights hearing making up all kinds of crap saying i owe more in CS than i really do, claiming i only made 4 payments last year, court is continued for march, so i got CS to send me a printout of what i owe and how many payments i made last year for proof her and her lawyer lied. She then said its not feasable for her to meet halfway for visitation with kids cause she is too busy with her company (thats a lie she has 4 employees that run most of it) its a 3 hour round trip for me to get my kids, she also has 3 vehichles to my one, and makes way more money and the damn judge ordered me to provide all transportation, then had the nerve to complain about my living environment because my kids sometimes sleep in my bed (they are still young, not freaking teens) even though she lets my daughter sleep with my son all week long cause she is scared and has been since ive been kicked out and lied to the judge when i brought that up claiming it rarely happens and only when she sneaks in his room after mom is asleep.
Everything she has i helped build/pay for/maintain/ including her company, she screwed me out of all of it as we were not married, she got it all plus CS payments from me while moving a married man in to help her more and all the while lies to job n family services to get free assistance in the form of free health care for the kids, free daycare after school, and even started getting food stamps!!!!! She refuses to report other adults pay when they live with her claiming she is a single mom of two, she even did that with me for years even though im the natural father living there and contributing to bills.
Whoever wrote this article, count your blessings you did not have children with this person!!!!! I cant fully escape the carnage because i have to deal with her on some level for the kids.
Now get this, (again no offense laides) while in court last month i was the only male in the courtroom, judge knows my ex has a protection order on me (based on lies of abuse from me when she was the physical one) and still orders me to break the CPO and go to her house for pickup/dropoff,,,my ex does not protest this at all even though she claims she fears for her safety around me, im the one that protested and judge still ordered it. Its a sick ass society that we live in.
Dave,
I am so sorry for what you are enduring. I have heard of similar nightmares from many men who had the misfortune to become involved with sociopathic women. Yes, a lot of people do think that women can’t behave that way – but they do.
Hey Donna,
You must not remember me, i got on your site 2 years ago, remembered my usnername and password the other week.
I didnt mean to sound biased against women, but it is hard as a man to convince people that your wife/girlfriend was physically/mentally/emotionally abusive, especially to police or the courts. My ex i guess is a covert NPD, she seems perfect and likeable and successful to those on the outside looking in and people think she is great, but in the house she is a total monster. She made a lame attempt in dec to get me back after the married guy left her (he probly got tired of her shit lol) but she said it would be like 5 years down the road, and i replied “it will be no years down the road” i told her she got what she deserved and i have no desire to be with someone like her whom i cannot trust and blames me for everything and tears everything apart that i help build. Then she raged out on me again and we have not spoke since. Its hard to have kids with them, i still have feelings for her and dreams about all this and thoughts of having my life back with my kids, but i had no life, she owned it all and tortured me and ill be damned if i go back to that, i just yearn for the life i “thought” i had at the beginning, but dont we all?
Dave – I thought you had commented before. Welcome back.