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Showing posts from May, 2025

The Woman Who Saved Me: Donielle Jolie Yanez and the Power of Healing Loudly

How Many People Have to Die Before Narcissistic Abuse is Taken Seriously?

 How Many People Have to Die Before Narcissistic Abuse is Taken Seriously? Narcissistic abuse is not a buzzword. It is not a dramatic overreaction or a therapy fad. It is a deliberate, premeditated form of psychological terrorism that leaves behind a trail of invisible corpses. The victims may look alive, but inside, they are often shells battling complex PTSD, addiction, chronic illness, dissociation, and far too often, suicidal ideation that ends in tragedy. So we ask how many have to die before this form of abuse is treated with the gravity it deserves? When someone takes their own life after years of psychological warfare, the world shrugs. Families are told they were mentally ill. The abuser walks free. The victim’s truth is buried with them. Suicide by narcissistic abuse isn’t in the textbooks. It isn’t in the courtrooms. It isn’t even part of the domestic violence conversation. And yet, it is one of the most deadly forms of interpersonal violence in existence. Let’s be blunt...

The Most Dangerous Lie I Ever Believed: “They Made Me Feel This Way

 The Most Dangerous Lie I Ever Believed: “They Made Me Feel This Way” By Daniel Ryan Cotler Today, I want to speak directly from the heart. This is one of those honest conversations where healing meets truth, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll recognize a version of your past self in what I’m about to say. For years, I carried a belief that felt completely true. But it wasn’t. I used to tell myself things like: “They made me feel like I had no worth.” “They made me feel invisible.” “They made me feel like I didn’t matter.” And I hear countless survivors say the same thing. These words sound right. They feel valid. After all, when someone constantly violates your boundaries, chips away at your self-worth, and manipulates your reality, what else are you supposed to feel? But here’s the truth that changed everything for me and I share this not to judge, but to empower. They didn’t make me feel that way. What hurt me most was that I kept allowing myself to feel that way… by staying. Let me ...

When Intimacy Is Used as a Weapon: Speaking the Truth About Intimate Partner Violence

 When Intimacy Is Used as a Weapon: Speaking the Truth About Intimate Partner Violence There’s something I need to talk about something many survivors of narcissistic abuse and intimate partner violence have experienced but rarely feel safe enough to name. It’s the kind of abuse that doesn’t leave visible bruises, but it leaves permanent scars on your psyche, your sense of reality, and your ability to trust. For me, it was one of the most psychologically shattering parts of the abuse I endured. For the first time in my life, I thought I had found both the physical and emotional connection I had always longed for. Until then, people had either been attracted to me but emotionally unavailable, or they had loved me in theory but discarded me when I needed real intimacy. I never had both not at the same time. But with my abuser, it felt different. At least at first. He made me feel seen. He made me feel beautiful. He created an illusion of safety and depth. Sex felt intimate, even sacr...

The Hardest Question in Healing: Why Did I Stay?

 The Hardest Question in Healing: Why Did I Stay? This one’s going to be hard to hear. But if you’re reading this, I know you’re ready. Maybe not ready to be comfortable but ready to be honest. And honesty is where healing begins. To truly take your power back, you have to do something that almost feels unfair. You have to take responsibility not for what they did, but for what you allowed. For what you tolerated. For what you excused. Not because it was your fault. It wasn’t. But because you’re the only one who can reclaim your life now. Let’s be clear: You didn’t cause the abuse. You didn’t deserve it. You were manipulated, gaslit, lied to, broken down. You were made to question your reality, your instincts, your worth. You survived something most people can’t even imagine. And you did the best you could with what you knew at the time. That deserves compassion not shame. But healing asks you to go deeper. To ask the question that gnaws at your soul in the quiet moments: Why did I...

You Can’t Keep Running from the Pain

 You Can’t Keep Running from the Pain Healing doesn’t happen in avoidance. It begins the moment you stop running. I used to believe that if I could just outrun the pain through distractions, new relationships, staying busy, or numbing out I’d eventually leave it behind. But pain doesn’t work like that. It’s not something you escape. It’s something that waits. And wherever you pause whether that’s a week, a year, or a decade it’ll still be right there, asking to be heard. You can’t run from what’s inside you. You can only delay the moment you finally face it. There comes a time in your healing journey where you have to make a choice: keep running from the pain, or run into it with everything you’ve got. Because what you're actually running from isn’t just pain. You’re running from yourself from the parts of you that were silenced, betrayed, dismissed, or never taught how to cope. You're avoiding the mirror because you're afraid of what you'll see: the shame, the regret, ...

The dangers.of relationship with people who have low emotional intelligence

Be careful when you get involved with a narcissist. They lack the emotional intelligence to truly understand or see your feelings. Instead, they twist things to serve their own needs, leaving you feeling invisible and unheard. They struggle to regulate their emotions, so you’ll often find yourself walking on eggshells around their sudden anger or cold moods. It’s exhausting and unfair, but it’s part of how they operate. They also lack self-awareness. They don’t recognize or don’t want to recognize how their actions hurt those around them. Because of this, they repeatedly cross boundaries and cause pain without taking responsibility. And empathy? That’s something they simply don’t have. They can’t genuinely feel what you’re going through or respect your feelings. Your pain doesn’t register with them, and your boundaries often mean nothing. So protect yourself. Surround yourself with people who have emotional intelligence, who understand themselves and care about others. People who can m...

Grieving Someone Who Never Existed: Why Narcissistic Abuse Breaks the Human Spirit

 Grieving Someone Who Never Existed: Why Narcissistic Abuse Breaks the Human Spirit June 1st | Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day Www.change.org/VoicelessJusticeAct One of the most excruciating parts of healing from narcissistic abuse is coming to terms with a paradox that breaks the human heart: mourning the loss of someone who never truly existed. For a long time, I was paralyzed by grief. Not just any griefbbut the kind that leaves your soul gasping for air. I wasn’t just heartbroken over the end of a relationship. I was grieving the death of a person who only existed in my mind the version of my abuser that I fell in love with. The charming, kind, attentive partner who mirrored everything I ever wanted. But that person wasn’t real. He was a mask. Behind that mask was someone entirely different. Someone capable of cruelty so calculated it nearly killed me. I lived in limbo torn between two versions of the same person: the man I thought I loved, and the abuser he truly was. That me...

Policy Brief: The FRANKIE InitiativeFederal Registry for Abusers of Narcissistic Knowledge, Identity, and Exploitation

 Policy Brief: The FRANKIE InitiativeFederal Registry for Abusers of Narcissistic Knowledge, Identity, and Exploitation Www.change.org/VoicelessJusticeAct Executive Summary:The FRANKIE Initiative is a legislative proposal that seeks to establish a federally maintained registry of individuals with substantiated histories of narcissistic abuse—particularly those who exhibit patterns of psychological manipulation, coercive control, and identity-based exploitation. This initiative provides a structural safeguard for survivors, supports law enforcement and the courts, and deters serial psychological abusers. It is a critical companion to the Voiceless Justice Act and reflects an urgent national need for transparency and accountability in cases of psychological abuse. Problem Statement:Narcissistic abuse, though often invisible, leaves deep psychological scars and drives many survivors to mental health crises, homelessness, and suicide. Predators exploit society’s ignorance and a lack of...

A warning to those who try and harm

I love with my whole heart openly, honestly, and without holding back. When I care about someone, I give them the best of me: loyalty, compassion, patience, and understanding. I forgive easily, not because I’m weak, but because I know that people make mistakes. I’ve made them too. I believe in growth. I believe in second chances. Www.change.org/VoicelessJusticeAct If you hurt me and you own it if you come to me with truth in your voice and a genuine apology in your heart I can move forward. I can still call you a friend. I don’t hold grudges when someone shows real accountability. That’s just who I am. But there’s a boundary I do not bend on. If I ever find out that you were scheming watching me, studying me, learning what makes me vulnerable just to strike when I’m weakest then you’ve made a different kind of choice. You’ve crossed into something calculated, something cold. That’s not a mistake. That’s betrayal. And I don’t let that slide. Because I’m not naive. I’m a dark empath. I f...

The most foolish thing a narcissist can ever do…

The most foolish thing a narcissist can ever do… Www.change.org/VoicelessJusticeAct is mistake an empath’s silence for weakness. They think our gentleness is naivety. They think our forgiveness is permission. They think our love is a flaw they can exploit again, and again, and again. But here’s the fatal miscalculation: Empaths aren’t weak. We are forged from pain. We carry the weight of the world in our hearts and still find room to carry others. Yes, we bend. Yes, we bleed. Yes, we break. But when we break… we don’t just shatter  we awaken. And in that awakening, something shifts. The soft becomes steel. The heart that once only healed now holds a sword. We become something else. Something they never saw coming. A reckoning with a pulse. A storm with a spine. The empath evolved. And I was that empath. Until Frankie Zerella pushed me too far. My narcissist didn’t just break my heart he tried to break my will to live. Nine suicide attempts. All of my possessions stolen. False charg...

Pass the Voiceless Justice Act & the FRANKIE Initiative. Narcissistic abuse ends lives we demand justice. Sign here: www.change.org/VoicelessJusticeAct #VoicelessJusticeAct #FRANKIEInitiative #NarcissisticAbuse

 "Every day, survivors of narcissistic abuse are buried alive in silence erased by gaslighting, blamed for their own trauma, and driven to the edge by invisible violence. The Voiceless Justice Act is our scream into the void, demanding to be heard. It says: we matter. Our pain is real. And our abusers will no longer hide behind charm and loopholes. Stand with us. Sign. Share. Be the voice for someone who doesn’t have one anymore." #VoicelessJusticeAct #HealLoudly #JusticeForSurvivors Www.change.org/VoicelessJusticeAct Www.change.org/VoicelessJusticeAct 

The Ultimate Guide to Red Flags in the Love Bombing Phase

 The Ultimate Guide to Red Flags in the Love Bombing Phase Www.change.org/VoicelessJusticeAct By Daniel Ryan Cotler When survivors look back on the beginning, they often ask themselves the same haunting question: "How did I not see it?" The truth is, narcissistic abusers don’t arrive with fangs bared. They arrive with flowers, flattery, and fabricated forever-after promises. They arrive like a dream but they are the prelude to a nightmare. This is not love. This is psychological warfare in a tuxedo, in a fairy tale, in your favorite song on repeat until you’re numb. These are brainwashing techniques disguised as intimacy. This is love bombing. Below is your field guide, your armor, your mirror. These are the 35 Red Flags to watch for during the love bombing phase. Not all will appear at once, but even a handful should raise concern. Because real love doesn’t rush you into dependence. Real love doesn’t hijack your identity. And real love doesn’t burn out your soul just to make...

Narcissistic Abuse Should Be a Crime

Narcissistic Abuse Should Be a Crime Www.change.org/VoicelessJusticeAct Narcissistic abuse is not a misunderstanding. It is not a relationship gone wrong. It is calculated, strategic, and relentless psychological warfare. Narcissists groom their victims with intent. Their goal is not love, not partnership it is power, control, and destruction. They are not confused. They are not unaware. They are predators. Every part of the narcissistic cycle is built around coercive control. The lies, the gaslighting, the silent treatment, the smear campaigns, the isolation it’s all deliberate. They study their victims. They mimic emotions. They exploit vulnerabilities. They move with precision, like hunters stalking prey. And what they do is criminal. They are master manipulators who weaponize charm to win allies while secretly breaking down their victims behind closed doors. Narcissists are so convincing they manage to turn entire communities, families, and even legal systems against their victims ...