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LETTER TO LOVEFRAUD: I have no further use to him and I am being disposed of

Lovefraud Reader | May 22, 2013 | 9 Comments

Editor’s note: The following letter was written by a woman who posts as “Sam.” And to answer her question at the end, it sounds like she’s been involved with a series of sociopaths.

It all started for me around 11 years ago when I first met what I thought was “the love of my life” and the only man I would ever consider settling down with—up until only months ago. I was only a young 16-year-old girl and he was 21 when we first started seeing each other. I had a rather unstable childhood where I witnessed domestic violence from a very young age, and I left home before my 15th birthday. I did not have the best parental guidance.  Read more... (1350 words, 0 images, estimated 5:24 mins reading time)

Police end search for Susan Powell; suspect brother-in-law in her disappearance

Donna Andersen | May 21, 2013 | 3 Comments

It seems that Susan Powell, the Utah mom who went missing in 2009, married into a family of sociopaths. Her husband, Josh Powell, was suspected in her disappearance. Josh Powell later attacked his sons with a hatchet and turned his home into a fireball on a court-ordered visitation. Steven Powell, Josh’s father, was sentenced to prison for voyeurism. Now police say the believe Michael C. Powell, Josh’s brother, was “heavily involved” in getting rid of Susan Powell’s body.

Susan Powell case update: Police end search for Utah mom, on HuffingtonPost.com.

In the meantime, Steven Powell is due to be released from prison on May 23, 2013.  Read more... (120 words, 0 images, estimated 29 secs reading time)

Oxytocin, trust and why we fall for psychopaths

Donna Andersen | May 20, 2013 | 63 Comments

Invariably, once we realize we’ve been conned by a psychopath, this person has lied to us from the very beginning, and we fell for all of it, we ask why? Why did we believe? Why did we trust?

The short answer is that we did what we, as social animals, are biologically designed to do. Human beings have evolved over millennia to live in community, and trust is the glue that holds us together.  Read more... (1149 words, 0 images, estimated 4:36 mins reading time)

CDC says 1 in 5 U.S. kids have a mental health disorder

Donna Andersen | May 19, 2013 | 32 Comments

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) releases a report stating that about 20 percent of children between the ages of 3 and 17 are living with mental health disorders.

CDC finds mental health woes in one in five U.S. kids, on CBSNews.com.

Mental health surveillance among children — United States, 2005 – 2011, on CDC.gov.

NJ woman charged with murdering husband, packing body into containers

Donna Andersen | May 18, 2013 | 4 Comments

This morning the front page of my local newspaper, the Press of Atlantic City, told a story worthy of an outrageous TV crime show. Loretta Doyle Burroghs, 61, was charged with stabbing her husband, Daniel Burroughs, to death back in 2007. She then packed his body into containers — I assume dismembered, although the story isn’t clear on that — and dragged the containers around with her as she moved to two different homes.

A neighbor, Bob Valiante, said he told the police that he believed Lorretta Burroughs had killed her husband, but the police didn’t listen. “I think she’s a sociopath,” Valiante said. “She’d bake you cookies then slice your throat while you were eating them.  Read more... (143 words, 0 images, estimated 34 secs reading time)

Donna Andersen explains sociopaths in NetCast Studio interview

Donna Andersen | May 18, 2013 | 9 Comments

On Thursday I talked to Rick Limpert and Steven Lee of NetCast studio in a wide-ranging interview about sociopaths. I explained the personality disorder, how the disorder develops, and the warning signs that you may be dating a sociopath. Steve and Rick also asked whether some people currently in the news are sociopaths, which led to an interesting conversation.

Donna Andersen — Red Flags of Love Fraud

NIMH v DSM-5: Mental health professionals continue to disagree

Donna Andersen | May 17, 2013 | 12 Comments

The bigwigs of mental health research have slammed the bigwigs of psychiatry, which will probably mean more confusion for the rest of us.

In 10 days, on May 27, 2013, the American Psychiatric Association’s new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental  Disorders 5th Edition, or DSM-5, will be published. This is the massive reference book that psychiatrists and therapists use in order to diagnose mental illness.

But a few weeks ago, the head of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which is the world’s largest funding agency for research into mental health, trashed the DSM-5. More precisely, Thomas R. Insel, M.D., director of NIMH, said the government agency would no longer fund research based on DSM-5 categories. Read:  Read more... (379 words, 0 images, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

“White hats, black hats,” and the dissenting opinion

Linda Hartoonian Almas | May 16, 2013 | 2 Comments

Many of us here have had experiences in court where we were less than satisfied with the outcomes.  I feel mainly fortunate in that respect.  For the most part, those I dealt with understood enough about personality disorders to act accordingly.

However, in one case I am familiar with, that clarity was somewhat lacking.  In the end, things worked out fine because the judge followed the laws of the land explicitly.  Nonetheless, it is worth mentioning because, in my opinion, his attitude and belief system could have been of serious concern had different issues (in the same court) been at stake.  As long as there are those who believe as he does, and he is not unique in this way, justice may not be served in some instances.  Read more... (1533 words, 0 images, estimated 6:08 mins reading time)

LETTER TO LOVEFRAUD: Signs of poor character

Lovefraud Reader | May 15, 2013 | 14 Comments

Editor’s note: The following letter was written by a Lovefraud reader whom we’ll call “Gwendolyn.”

I was married to a sociopath and addict for four years. He did the love bombing thing with me and pushed for moving in and marriage very early, within the first few months. I was afraid of the consequences of refusing him, so I foolishly went along and moved into his house then married him. I only lived with him for two and a half years. It was a twisted game of lies, addiction and emotional abuse. It was a long and damaging period of time.  Read more... (2100 words, 0 images, estimated 8:24 mins reading time)

Confessions of a Sociopath — a book I don’t want to buy or read

Donna Andersen | May 14, 2013 | 28 Comments

Today a new book went on sale called, Confessions of a Sociopath: A life spent hiding in plain sight. The author is a woman writing under the pseudonym of M.E. Thomas. Although she doesn’t want people to know her real name — gee, I wonder why? — Thomas claims that she is a successful lawyer and a Mormon Sunday school teacher. Oh, and she enjoys ruining people’s lives.  Read more... (433 words, 0 images, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)