They are reassuring inasmuch as they make me feel that I am not alone. So far, my “sister” has blocked my ability to get employed and I have now been omitted from a family gathering this July 4th. I worked for her for many years and for this reason she is listed as an employer on my resume.

I would also like to add that you must be very, very careful in dealing with a sociopath. It has literally made me sick. It started as stomach pains while I worked with her and grew into an autoimmune disorder that originated from stress. The problem is that you cannot turn your body off from attacking itself. You can manage it but you cannot turn it off.

My advice to anyone dealing with a person like this is to RUN IMMEDIATELY as far away as possible!

Best of luck to you also and again, thank you for your comments.

Muffin states the very sad truth. It’s best not to believe it will ever go away, but do not lose of hope. I do not need to communicate with my ex much more as my kids are out of high school. It’s my own siblings who are my worst nightmare.

I don’t believe I ever really read of a sociopath just giving up on victims — it an evil enjoyment they find and hold onto. Unfortunately, your pain will stick around. There may be hope for your child, but your child could also inherit the bad gene. I was granted full custody of my son (then 4) and daughter (then 2). I walked away from a successful advertising career to be here for them. I watch both my kids take on their mother’s characteristics in about their middle teens.

I never said a negative thing about their mom, but she did not play by my same rules. Though they trusted me implicitly and the would ask me about things they mom told them about me — which made me cringe — but I’d calmly say, “Are you sure she said that … that doesn’t sound right … does it to you?” They’d always say “no, we didn’t think so.”

Their mom and hubby #4 abused my son, and he cut off most communication with them in his early teens. The system continually failed us. Now in his second year of college year, has no dealings with her. On the other hand, I let my guard down when my daughter was 14, and her mom kidnapped her, with the blessing of our judicial system. She made up a list of lies, and because I had all truth but no attorney (I couldn’t afford one) she proved nothing but the judge gave my daughter to her. She bribed my daughter by saying she’d have all the freedom she wanted.

I have not seen my daughter for her entire high school years — all four. The Superior Court judge who did that, coincidentally, just resigned during this past month in disgrace. I’m sure more and more stories will surface about him. He seems very narcissistic.

Best of luck to you. There is hope.

I already moved away and he has limited visitation, but it is unsupervised and long 10 day periods four times a year and twice a week skype visitation. I fear for my sons safety, he is only three and knows too much already because he watch his dad hurt his mommy for over a year. I cant do anything about it, every time I see him you can only imagine the fear that floods me. I keep quiet and distant.

What can I do now to protect my son?

I think I’m going to stop trying to explain, even to those who ask, what it’s like getting trapped by a sociopath (one or more).

My experience has been that people are so oblivious to the possibility of people around them (i.e., sociopaths) who are actually capable of such behavior, maintaining dual personas, etc., that they turn on me, and think I must be nuts. (well, everyone is, but not like that ; )

And then there are those people, too, who are so buried in denial, that they refuse to look at substantiation that will prove the allegation. Those characters baffle me … they would prefer to listen to lies, over viewing the truth.

I’ll save them for another lifetime.

But I still am having a hard time convincing my spouse that this person is not his friend, and an even harder time getting my spouse to recognize that, not only were they not friends, but that there was some definite erosion of the soul happening, and distinct changing of the fundamental personality .

If enough time passes, the people they have targeted think they have *changed*, and they feel bad themselves for not having spent any time with them. They rely on your good conscience to keep you feeling like you owe them something, when really, they feel just the opposite.

Yep. If your life has been turned upside-down by rumours, projection, and insanity, look at the only person who is seemingly flawless and without fault at all. You either have your instigator, or, in my case, your sociopath.