Skills Module 1: Mindfulness to clear your head of sociopathic gaslighting

About this course

Part 1 of skills training for recovery from narcissistic abuse, gaslighting and toxic stress, presented by Dr. Liane Leedom

If you’ve been involved with a sociopath (psychopath, narcissist), you’ve been psychologically abused. You’ve been gaslighted into believing his or her stories, such as the individual is a genius, or powerful, or successful. The trauma of abuse makes it difficult to recognize the lies, even when you’re presented with conflicting evidence.

How do you overcome the psychological abuse? Dr. Liane Leedom, a psychiatrist who was herself targeted by a psychopath, says that you can restore your sanity through mindfulness.

Mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment, on purpose and without judgment. Through mindfulness, you objectively observe all your sensory input, including how your body feels, what your brain is thinking and what you’re experiencing socially.

In this webinar, Dr. Leedom teaches you the goals of mindfulness — to reduce suffering, increase happiness, increase control of your mind. Then, she offers you specific skills and practices to achieve the goals. The objective is to help you build a life worth living, despite your experience with the sociopath (psychopath, narcissist).

This skills training is based on the concepts of dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). Dr. Leedom refers to many DBT concepts in this course. To jumpstart your own personal recovery, she strongly recommends that you purchase DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, by Marsha M. Linehan. In Dr. Leedom’s experience, the participants who worked with the handouts and worksheets in conjunction with her instruction make the most progress.

Highlights

• After the sociopath, mindfulness empowers you to take back your mind and reality
• Goal of mindfulness — to reduce suffering and increase happiness
• How to focus on being completely present in this one moment
• How to observe and release painful emotions
• The importance of validation for improved relationships

About the instructor Dr. Liane Leedom

Liane J. Leedom, M.D., is a psychiatrist and a professor of counseling and psychology at the University of Bridgeport. She is author of Just Like His Father? A Guide to Overcoming Your Child’s Genetic Connection to Antisocial Behavior, Addiction and ADHD, and Women Who Love Psychopaths: Investigating the Relationships of Inevitable Harm. She is also author of multiple peer-reviewed studies, including Counseling Intimate Partner Abuse Survivors: Effective and Ineffective Interventions; The Dominance Behavioral System and Psychopathology: Evidence from Self-Report, Observational and Biological Studies; The Problem of Parental Psychopathy; and Did He Ever Love Me? A Qualitative Study of Life with a Psychopathic Husband.

Read Dr. Leedom’s studies at ResearchGate.

In addition to her university research and teaching, Dr. Leedom is currently in private practice as a psychiatrist. She trained in medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. She previously served on the medical staff of several Connecticut facilities, including St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Hall-Brooke Behavioral Health Services, the Hospital of St. Raphael and the Center for Optimum Care.

Cost and credits

This course is Part One of Skills training for recovery from abuse, gaslighting and toxic stress, presented by Dr. Liane Leedom. The cost is $125 for 5 hours of instruction — four classes, 75 minutes each. Once you purchase the course, you can access it online as long and as often as you want.

Be sure to watch the FREE introduction — Your first step towards real recovery from narcissistic abuse and trauma.

Dr. Leedom’s complete program has four parts, which will get you well on the road to recovery. Save $80 when you buy the entire program. 

Although this course does not award continuing education credits, you will be able to download a certificate of achievement upon completion.

Learning objectives

After completing this webinar, you should be able to:

• Discuss how trauma interferes with seeing reality
• Identify states of mind — reasonable, emotional or wise
• Observe, describe and participate in the present moment
• Describe strategies for letting go of emotional suffering
• Respond appropriately to validation and invalidation

Program agenda for Mindfulness to clear your head of sociopathic gaslighting

Class 1

• What acting skillfully enables you to do
• The STOP skill
• The Wise Mind skill
• Components of the mind
• How psychological abuse affects perceptions
• Forms of psychological abuse
• Goals of mindfulness practice
• Mindfulness What skills: Observe, describe, participate

Class 2

• Model of the mind #1 — thoughts get stirred up, then drift away
• Model of the mind #2 — thoughts are like an empty room that becomes reality
• Pain vs. suffering
• How mindfulness and psychotherapy help
• How do you know you can separate from inner events?
• How skills: Nonjudgmentally, one-mindfully, effectively

Class 3

• Self-soothe to prepare yourself for acceptance
• Reality acceptance
• Radical acceptance
• Why do survivors struggle with acceptance?
• Sociopaths are designed to live off others’ energy
• What must be accepted?
• How to practice acceptance
• Reality acceptance skills: Turning the mind, willingness, half-smiling
• Mindfulness of current thoughts

Class 4

• What is validation?
• Why is emotional invalidation harmful?
• Identifying invalidation
• Consequences of invalidation
• Skills to fight the need for validation
• Validating yourself
• Mindful self-compassion

Preview of this course

When the sociopath’s gaslighting has left your mind racing and emotions in turmoil, mindfulness teaches you that you are not your thoughts. Learn to calm your mind, soothe your senses and let go of emotional suffering.

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Lovefraud offers a money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with your course, your money will be refunded. For multi-part courses, please request a refund before the second webinar in the program.