Hi Ennie,

Thanks for sharing this. I greatly empathize with your experience. I hope that you have been able to remove yourself from the control of your abusers. At what point did you come to realize these things about your abusers? The dynamics that were playing out?

I agree with you. I think abusers have that unique ability to hide amongst the crowd. "Wolves in sheeps clothing." They do it so well it is scary to think about how calculated they are. And to think that so many people fall for it. Quite disturbing and even more-so when they fool people we love and trust.

My abusers did the same exact thing. It is so painful to think about. I still have trouble accepting the amount of abuse my family put me through and how long I put up with it. I was stuck in major trauma bonding trying to get them to understand, but they never stopped abusing. Rightfully I should never speak to my family again, but two years of no contact and major boundaries have allowed me to maintain a small level of communication.

Did your abusers manipulate extended family and friends? My family did smear campaigns through gossip to destroy my image because they were afraid I might share the abuse with family and friends. My brother is a narcissist and he always hated that I loved filmmaking. I became a target of his and so he sabotaged any chances that I may succeed at film; worst of all were the friendships that he destroyed. Of course, years after, some of my extended family started to recognize these patterns and decided for themselves that there was more than meets the eye. If only they realized that earlier - by that time I had already stopped talking to EVERYONE in my extended family because they had been so misled about who I was it became too painful to be around. So heartbreaking that we should go through this in silence.

Thanks,
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