About this module
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 clarity 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 in your life.
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).
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
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.