One of the issues many of my clients come in dealing with is recovering from abuse. I don't necessarily mean physical abuse, but sometimes that is part of it. The abuse is large, it's encompassing for the victims. It tries to take over every aspect of the survivors life and attempts to make it's way in the little corners of a survivors life and psyche, where the survivor had peace and calm, and self love left. I am talking specifically about Narcissistic Abuse and the abuse that exists from having been in a relationship with a narcissist, a malignant narcissist, a sociopath or a psychopath. You may see literature which states that sociopaths and psychopaths aren't real terms or mental health issues. And clinically that's true. They fall under the diagnosis of "Anti-Social Personality Disorder" in the psychiatric manual- the DSM V TR, which mental health providers use to formulate, and understand mental illness and diagnosis.
Narcissistic abuse is the traumatic experience of being mistreated, emotionally abused and neglected, gas lit, trauma bonded and love bombed by the Narcissist, who then discards their mate, partner, or victim. For many survivors, what this leaves them with feeling broken, damaged, afraid to walk away and afraid to reconnect to a new partner. Depending on the severity of the abuse, there can be significant emotional, physical, financial, sexual and other forms of abuse that the survivor has to deal with as well. It's important to work with a therapist who has a full understanding of the Narcissistic Spectrum- Narcissistic traits to excessive Narcissistic traits, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Malignant Narcissism to Anti-Social Personality Disorder (psychopathy and sociopathy).
This is a great deal to heal from. It is also very useful to learn about how someone with Anti-Social Personality Disorder selected you, and selects a mate in general. It is very important to learn to avoid this in the future.
I wrote a book about the topic and help survivors navigate their own healing, and help them come to an understanding of what happened in my book, "Healing From an Abusive Relationship: Life After the Breakup", available on Amazon.
You can watch Dr. Sandra L. Brown, who works with Dr. Robert Hare on the specialty of Anti-Social Personality Disorder. I have no ties with the creators of this video, but it is extremely useful. Watch HERE.