Why do you keep replaying a relationship that's already over — running the same five minutes on a loop, searching for the one detail that will finally make sense of it? That wasn't you overthinking. That was your nervous system trying to close a case file that has no ending. You survived a partner who gaslit you and switched faces so that the "true" version of them was never verifiable. This is a highlight from a recent live Q&A, repurposed here as our second weekly podcast segment. In th...
Aug 27
24 min
What if the reason they keep coming back to you has nothing to do with love — and everything to do with boredom? In this episode, Dr. Kerry and Lynn Strathdee break down the internal clock that drives narcissistic relationship cycles. How pathological partners idealize, withdraw, only to circle back. This isn’t about the victim—it’s about the dysfunctional nature of the abuser. Podcast Extra Exclusive Segment Want to go deeper? Become a Substack paid subscriber and learn wh...
Aug 24
26 min
They said they'd "never talk to you again" — like it was a boundary. Like it was healthy. But the silence never actually stayed silent. Behind your back, a different story was already being told behind your back. And when you reach out, you’re blocked. This is a smear campaign with a "no contact" mask on. This episode, Dr. Kerry McAvoy reads from your stories — real accounts from people who lived through the attack-then-block cycle — to break down what's actually happening when a narcissist "...
Aug 20
12 min
The divorce papers are signed. The marriage is over. But for survivors of narcissistic abuse, the legal system is often where the abuse escalates — not ends. In this conversation, Kerry McAvoy and Family Law Attorney Diana Romanov decode the legal tactics narcissists weaponize after you leave. How conflict avoidance becomes your abuser’s most powerful legal advantage. Learn how the earliest red flags predict exactly how dangerous the divorce will be. Exclusive Podcast Extra Segme...
Aug 17
29 min
Why does their apology leave you feeling like the one who did something wrong? \ Continuing this week's feed swap, I'm sharing a conversation from Renee Swanson's Covert Narcissism Podcast — this time a guest interview with Dr. Anthony Mazzella, a psychodynamic therapist and host of The Narcissism Decoder. Together they get underneath the behavior to the "why," unpacking what they call the illusion of empathy: the moment an apology looks like remorse but is really about image control.&n...
Aug 14
31 min
They said they were managing the finances — because you weren't good with money. That every purchase had to go through them. But somehow, there was always money for what they wanted. They made you feel like a child asking for an allowance — in your own home. And the moment you tried to leave, you realized you had nothing. Because they had made sure of it. That wasn't financial stress. That was financial control. This Thursday episode, Kerry reads from real accounts from people who lived insid...
Aug 13
15 min
He checked the grocery receipt. And the look on his face said everything: he expected to catch you at something. You weren't a partner. You were a suspected thief. But that moment — that first time money became a surveillance tool — didn't come out of nowhere. It didn't start with the receipts, or the interrogations, or the separate account he opened without telling you. It started the moment he made you feel like the luckiest person alive. Because that feeling — of being ch...
Aug 10
28 min
They said they were managing the finances — because you weren't good with money. That every purchase had to go through them. But somehow, there was always money for what they wanted. They made you feel like a child asking for an allowance — in your own home. And the moment you tried to leave, you realized you had nothing. Because they had made sure of it. That wasn't financial stress. That was financial control. This Thursday episode, Kerry reads from your stories — re...
Aug 6
13 min
Your child comes home from a visit with the other parent guarded. Repeating things they couldn't have come up with on their own. Now they’re looking at you differently. That's not just "divorce being hard." That's a smear campaign — and your narcissistic ex has recruited your own children to run it. This week, Dr. Josh Davis — neuroscientist, psychologist, and author of The Difference That Makes a Difference — joins Kerry McAvoy to break down exactly how narcissistic exes weaponiz...
Aug 3
33 min
If you can name the patterns and see the behaviors, have you wondered why do you still feel so stuck? This week I'm sharing an episode from Renee Swanson of the Covert Narcissism Podcast — a feed swap I wanted to bring straight to this community. Renee unpacks what she calls "hitting the wall": the moment you can no longer live the lie in a covert narcissistic relationship, when you can't keep pretending that you're fine, that your family is fine, when it simply isn't. Renee Swanson, the host...
Jul 31
22 min
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