Donna Andersen

Most therapy is about offering insight. The general idea is that if you can look at your behavior differently, understand why you may be doing what you're doing and how it affects other people, you can change. This works with people who are distressed by their own behavior or their situation. It doesn't work with individuals who have character disorders, because they are not distressed. Dr. George Simon teaches therapists a more effective approach to working with disordered individuals. He'll be presenting this approach in a Lovefraud Continuing Education webinar. Character Disturbances and Disorders Part 1: Key differences between neurosis and character disturbance in nature and …

Why traditional therapy doesn’t work with disordered peopleRead More

Lovefraud Continuing Education Webinar: Character Disturbances and Disorders If you're a therapist, you may find yourself increasingly dealing with individuals with significant personality and character disturbances and disorders. You may have found your traditional insight-oriented therapy approaches to be ineffective in such cases. While some therapists simply dismiss personality-related problems as unmodifiable or untreatable, Dr. George Simon shares a unique perspective that provides new understanding of the nature of character disturbance and a framework for effecting change in challenging clients. You probably learned that in classical psychology, emotional and …

Dr. George Simon presents an alternative approach to treating character disordersRead More

By Amber Ault, Ph.D. Like women in heterosexual relationships, women who date other women face the risk of entanglements with toxic partners. This is sometimes surprising both to straight and LGBTQ people who may assume that relationships between two women partners are somehow “naturally” peaceful and nurturing. Indeed, sometimes women in disappointing relationships with men contemplate dating women instead because they assume same-sex relationships would be devoid of the exploitation that can happen in cross-sex relationships. What are the assumptions that make women who date women vulnerable to toxic relationships? Here are a few: Erroneous Belief #1. All narcissists and psy …

Beliefs that make lesbians vulnerable to exploitative partnersRead More

Due to shame, fear and hopelessness, anyone caught in an abusive relationship finds it difficult to leave. But for lesbians, who already feel stigmatized, the barriers to seeking help are even greater. "Therapists may hold stereotypes that intimate partner violence doesn't occur in same-sex relationships between women, or that in the absence of physical violence, same-sex relationships do not include cycles of abuse," says Dr. Amber Ault, a clinical sociologist and psychotherapist based in Madison, Wisconsin. "Women in same-sex relationships often hold the same beliefs." Plus, lesbians often worry about protecting the reputation of their community calling attention to dysfunction or …

Leaving abusive relationships is especially hard for lesbians – what therapists need to knowRead More

Many Lovefraud readers have loved  someone, had children with that person, and then realized that you've gotten yourself involved in an abusive relationship. You suspect that your partner, the mother or father of your children, has a personality disorder and then you hear that personality disorders are highly genetic. What do you do? And if you're a therapist, how do you help a client in this situation? Dr. Liane Leedom presents a four-part webinar series called Overcoming Children's Genetic Risk for Externalizing Disorders. It is designed for mental health professionals and offers continuing education credits, but parents can benefit from the information as well. The webinar e …

Specific parenting strategies may help children at risk for developing personality disordersRead More

Maybe you are one of many Lovefraud readers in a court battle with a sociopath divorce, child custody, or other litigation. Maybe, when you need to tell the court what you experienced you freeze, unable to speak, or even think. You could be suffering from a psychiatric injury, such as PTSD. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you are diagnosed, you are entitled to accommodations to allow you equal access to the judicial system. Accommodations may include breaks if you become symptomatic, permission to tape record proceedings, and more. Do you know about this? Does your therapist know? Dr. Karin Huffer, author of the Legal Abuse Syndrome, presents a Lovefraud …

How therapists can help support traumatized clients who face sociopaths in courtRead More

One of the worst things about sociopathy is that it is highly genetic. That means everyone who has children with a sociopath must face a hard truth: Their children are also at risk of becoming sociopaths. But genetics are not carved in stone, and just because children are at risk does not mean they are doomed to develop personality disorders. Lovefraud Continuing Education offers a series of four webinars designed to teach mental health professionals how to help clients who have children at risk for externalizing disorders. (Externalizing disorders are mental disorders characterized by negative behaviors directed towards a person's external environment, such as towards other …

How to help children who are at risk of becoming sociopathsRead More

"Crazy-making" that's how people describe involvements with those who have narcissistic or antisocial personality disorders, psychopathy, and even borderline personality disorder. After enduring deception, manipulation, bald-faced lies and gaslighting, people who are in these relationships often feel like they're losing their minds. What they need most is someone who believes their stories and can tell them what is going on. So they go for counseling. Unfortunately, many times they discover that the therapist really doesn't understand what they are talking about. Over the years, I've heard this from countless people who have been targeted by exploiters. In fact, I've heard …

Mental health professionals: Here’s the training you never received about antisocial personality disorder, narcissism and psychopathyRead More