Why did you do things you swore you’d never do, just to get their love back? In this episode, Kerry and researcher Dr. Karen Mitchell unpack why affection from a narcissistic or predatory partner can feel like a drug. It’s intense and strategic, and then it’s suddenly withdrawn. They also explore who predatory people target: honest, kind-hearted people. And why recovery can take years. This was never about you being weak. The pull you felt was engineered, and understanding it is how you…

Why did the narcissist’s collapse look so real — curled on the floor, shaking, sweating, begging you not to leave — yet nothing changed after? What looks like a breakdown is often a temporary loss of status, not a loss of identity — the defensive structure drops for 30 seconds, then rapidly reconsolidates and the manipulation continues. This is a highlight from a recent live Q&A, repurposed here as our second weekly podcast segment. In this episode, Kerry unpacks the hidden mechanics be…

What if the reason you feel like you’re always “nagging” has nothing to do with you being difficult — and everything to do with deliberate provocation? In this episode, Dr. Kerry McAvoy and Lynn Strathdee break down the hidden mechanics behind pathological provocation — why abusers poke, prod, and sabotage your boundaries at bedtime and beyond. How they insist on misunderstanding you, wear you down, and then recast you as the “whining nag” to make themselves the victim. This isn’t about the …

Why did the narcissist’s collapse look so real — curled on the floor, shaking, sweating, begging you not to leave — yet nothing changed after? What looks like a breakdown is often a temporary loss of status, not a loss of identity — the defensive structure drops for 30 seconds, then rapidly reconsolidates and the manipulation continues. This is a highlight from a recent live Q&A, repurposed here as our second weekly podcast segment. In this episode, Kerry unpacks the hidden mechanics be…

What if the trait everyone praises you for is the exact one the narcissist is scanning for? That isn’t naivety. That isn’t missing the red flags. Agreeableness — assuming people are honest, wanting harmony, believing no one would be cruel on purpose — is a readable personality profile, and predators read it faster than you can. In this episode, Kerry sits down with therapist and author Chelsey Brooke Cole. Cole married two narcissists — one grandiose, one covert — while practicing as a clin…

Why does one person in the family end up carrying everything — the blame, the mood, the thing nobody will say out loud? That wasn’t a flaw in you. That was a role, and someone cast you in it. Scapegoating is bullying that a family agrees not to stop, and it works because it holds the group together at your expense. This is a highlight from a recent live Q&A, repurposed here as our second weekly podcast segment. In this episode, Kerry breaks down why families choose a scapegoat, wh…

Why do you keep replaying a relationship that’s already over — running the same five minutes on a loop, searching for the one detail that will finally make sense of it? That wasn’t you overthinking. That was your nervous system trying to close a case file that has no ending. You survived a partner who gaslit you and switched faces so that the “true” version of them was never verifiable. This is a highlight from a recent live Q&A, repurposed here as our second weekly podcast segment. In th…

What if the reason they keep coming back to you has nothing to do with love — and everything to do with boredom? In this episode, Dr. Kerry and Lynn Strathdee break down the internal clock that drives narcissistic relationship cycles. How pathological partners idealize, withdraw, only to circle back. This isn’t about the victim—it’s about the dysfunctional nature of the abuser. Podcast Extra Exclusive Segment Want to go deeper? Become a Substack paid subscriber and learn wh…

They said they’d “never talk to you again” — like it was a boundary. Like it was healthy. But the silence never actually stayed silent. Behind your back, a different story was already being told behind your back. And when you reach out, you’re blocked. This is a smear campaign with a “no contact” mask on. This episode, Dr. Kerry McAvoy reads from your stories — real accounts from people who lived through the attack-then-block cycle — to break down what’s actually happening when a narcissist “…