This episode is the first part of an enlightening interview with Sam Vaknin, Professor of Psychology & Finances at the Southern University of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, PhD in Philosophy and Physics, and author of the book "Malignant Self-Love: Narcissism Revisited."  In this first of a three-episode series, we talked about why the narcissistic abuse experience is different from other abusive relationships, and why each narcissistic abuse story is unique.  What You Will Learn In This Episode: - How it was connecting with narcissistic abuse victims before the internet era - The uniqueness of the narcissistic abuse experience - How narcissists live inside their mind - Why making demands or having expectations threatens a narcissist’s equilibrium  - The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) vs. the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM) When Professor Vaknin started working with narcissistic abuse trauma back in 1995, there was no terminology, no words to describe it. One of his first jobs was to coin terms like narcissistic supply, somatic narcissist, cerebral narcissist, and narcissistic abuse itself. He has been studying the subject passionately for over 26 years, helping thousands of people to recover from their trauma.  Resources: - Malignant Self-Love: Narcissism Revisited by Sam Vaknin - Connect with Professor Sam Vaknin on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube - Join my Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/thriveafternarcissisticabuse   - Connect with me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolinestrawson/