Gaslighting: Help Clients Escape and Rebuild from a Narcissist's Emotional Abuse

Credits

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Speaker

Stephanie Sarkis, PhD, NCC, DCMHS, LMHC Related seminars and products

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Stephanie Moulton Sarkis, PhD, NCC, DCMHS, LMHC, is a psychotherapist specializing in narcissistic abuse, gaslighting, anxiety, and ADHD. She is the author of eight books and one workbook, including the best-selling Healing from Toxic Relationships: 10 Essential Steps to Recover from Gaslighting, Narcissism, and Emotional Abuse and Break Free. Dr. Sarkis is a national certified counselor, licensed mental health counselor, American Mental Health Counselors Association Diplomate (clinical mental health specialist in child and adolescent counseling), and a Florida Supreme Court certified family and circuit mediator. She has been in private practice for 22 years. She is a senior contributor for Forbes and is also a contributor to Psychology Today. She is the host of the Talking Brains podcast. She is based in Tampa, Florida. You can visit her website at www.stephaniesarkis.com.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Stephanie Moulton Sarkis maintains a private practice. She serves as a contributor to Forbes, The Huffington Post, and Psychology Today and is an advisory panel member for Evergreen Certifications. Dr. Sarkis is a facilitator for Collaborative Divorce. She receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Stephanie Moulton Sarkis is a professional expert for Understood.org, part of the National Center for Learning Disabilities. She is a member of the Attention Deficit Disorder Association, American Mental Health Counselors Association, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder, and the National Board for Certified Counselors.

Alternate Dates

Additional Info

For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. You will have access for 90 days after the program for review.

Please note: There will be a 70-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch and break times will be announced by the speaker and at their discretion. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.

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Objectives

1. Utilize solution focused, cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to address victims of emotional abuse.
2. Differentiate between abusive behaviors defined as “gaslighting”, poor communication, and other forms of emotional abuse.
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of evidence based practices to address emotional abuse.
4. Determine whether a client is experiencing complicated grief as a result of leaving their abuser using techniques from attachment and complicated grief therapy.
5. Utilize clinical strategies from a trauma-informed perspective to identify vulnerabilities and trauma that abusers prey upon.
6. Educate clients to identify potential abusive behavior in future relationships.

Outline

• Potential for domestic homicide is higher
• Lifetime attachment issues for children witnessing the abuse
• Parental alienation
• Chronic loss of self-esteem; higher suicide rates
• Gaslighting probability higher in men

• Intermittent positive reinforcement (breadcrumbing)
• Slow spiral into instability
• Compulsive lying with malicious intent
• Jekyll and Hyde personality

• Narcissist, sociopath, or learned behavior? Nature/nurture
• Demands absolute loyalty, never gives it in return
• Chronic pattern of infidelity
• May be very charismatic
• They’ll only attend couples therapy, never individual
• Gaslighting the therapist
• Case study: 38-year-old male, gaslighting his partner

• Disconnected and isolated from family and friends
• Blames self for abuse
• Difficulty recognizing gradual build of abuse
• Ruminates on how to “fix” relationship
• Abuse in family of origin
• Increase in anxious attachment style traits
• Given up independence, including job and solo activities
• Enters therapy because they view themselves as the “problem”

• Insecure attachment
• Permission to detach, reduce, or cease communication
• Sticking to healthy boundaries
• Reverse relationship patterns
• Case study: Cassie, 60-year-old female, family of-origin engages in gaslighting

• Effective strategies for co-parenting with gaslighter
• Legal protections for clients and their children
• Formation of healthy boundaries
• Case study: Jamie, 45-years-old, co-parenting with a narcissist
• Case study: 35-years-old, co-parenting with gaslighting ex-partner

• Triangulation of therapist
• Being swayed by gaslighter’s charisma
• Frustration over client returning to relationship
• Pushing own agenda of client independence
• Vicarious traumatization and burnout
• Risks and limitations

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social workers
• Psychologists
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Physicians
• Addiction Counselors
• Mental health professionals who specialize in women’s issues, work in domestic violence shelters, work with LGBTQIA+ clients
• Therapists that work in private practice, group settings, inpatient, and at schools

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