
The Narcissistic Abuse & Trauma Recovery Podcast is to help women thrive after the devastating effects from the trauma of narcissistic abuse. Hosted by Caroline Strawson, best-selling author, speaker and award-winning Trauma Therapist & Coach and founder of the #1 Trauma Informed Narcissistic Trauma Recovery Programme using a unique integration of tools such as Internal Family Systems, Brainspotting, Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, Hypnotherapy, Breath Work & Positive Psychology to help you move form Post Traumatic Stress To Post Traumatic Growth. The podcast is your safe space for support, education and awareness around gaslighting, trauma bonds, codependency, complex PTSD and surviving narcissistic abuse to thrive and flourish. This is your safe space where we understand anger, toxicity and the guilt you can feel from the narcissist and this podcast is designed to take you from trauma, struggle and pain to transformation, purpose & strength. You are not alone and we heal together.
How To Heal After Narcissistic Abuse FREE Masterclass: Sunday 1st October 8pm UK time/3pm EDT/12pm PDT: https://carolinestrawson.com/healing-masterclass
My approach to defining what a narcissist is differs from the mainstream healthcare definition, I’m going to explain why. When I had a narcissist in my life, they behaved very differently in the public eye compared to how they behaved behind closed doors. They could easily fool anyone into thinking that they weren’t a narcissist, which is why the clinical diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder is problematic.
What you will learn in this episode:
Why the clinical diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder is wrong
What a healthcare professional looks for when diagnosing a narcissist
Who you can go to for validation that a person in your life is a narcissist
In this episode, I’ll discuss my current perspective on narcissism, shedding light on the factors that have shaped my approach and I’ll explore how my experiences have led me to adopt this particular viewpoint. Additionally, I’ll offer my thoughts on ways in which the clinical diagnosis of narcissism could undergo enhancements for a more accurate and nuanced understanding.
Resources:
Join my FREE Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/thriveafternarcissisticabuse
Access my low cost Narcissistic Trauma Recovery Programme https://go.carolinestrawson.com/heal-the-trauma-of-narcissistic-abuse
Connect with me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolinestrawson/
Find me on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@carolinestrawson
My website: https://www.carolinestrawson.com/

Narcissistic abuse isn’t just some bad breakup or somebody being mean to you. This is actual trauma. In this episode I want to explain what exactly trauma is, and I want to educate you on what exactly narcissistic abuse is.
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
The definition of trauma
Why narcissistic abuse is trauma
The 4 trauma responses: fight, flight, freeze and fawn
Why our perception is key in triggering trauma response
The origins of trauma responses
What codependency is
How to start healing the trauma
Although narcissistic abuse is trauma, it doesn’t need to define you. I want to help you find meaning in it, so you can go on and not just heal your trauma, but you can actually thrive after narcissistic abuse.
Resources:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/thriveafternarcissisticabuse
Audiogram:
2:59-4:08
If you’ve had lots of stressors in your life, so for instance, like I said, maybe you had a really traumatic birth, maybe you were born premature. Maybe your mother was in an abusive relationship. Maybe as a child, there was neglect. Maybe there was abuse, maybe there was a lack of emotion, maybe from one or both of your parents, these are all going to be stressors to you. And these are going to be like these beach balls that are coming into your swimming pool. And you imagine if you’ve got lots of beach balls coming into your swimming pool, at some stage, that capacity is going to start to build tight, it’s going to feel full, and it can feel overwhelming. And this is when it starts to tip into us being in trauma. Because if you were abused as a child, that’s going to be a great big, massive, massive beach ball going into your swimming pool, so that coping capacity, it’s not going to beat that. It’s going to be overwhelming to your system. This is what trauma is. It’s simply overwhelm to your system, which is why we can never judge anybody else on how they are coping, because we don’t know how many beach balls they’ve got in their swimming pool, we don’t know what’s happened to them in their past.