![Stop Calling Him a Narcissist (Use This Word Instead) - The Narcissism Trap Series Part One [366] @FlyingFree](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pBFvLMNT3xk/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In this kickoff to a powerful new series, The Narcissism Trap, Natalie Hoffman challenges a popular narrative in abuse recovery: labeling an emotionally abusive partner as a “narcissist.”
While that term may feel validating at first, Natalie explains how it can actually work against your healing by keeping you locked in the wrong story.
If you've been Googling “narcissist” at 2 a.m. to make sense of your painful marriage, this episode is for you.
🎯 Key Takeaways:
-Stop giving the abuse a medical label. Narcissism is a clinical diagnosis that can distract from the very real pattern of covert oppression you’re living in.
-Start calling it what it is: oppression. This isn’t about someone who’s mentally ill or just "struggling." This is about power, control, and silencing your voice.
-Shifting the language helps you shift your mindset. When you stop analyzing him and start focusing on your own story, healing becomes possible.
-You're not crazy or overreacting. You're likely experiencing strategic emotional abuse often invisible to outsiders but deeply damaging inside your home.
Get Today’s Free Resource:
🧐 Are you wondering what is happening inside your own painful and confusing marriage? I wrote a book just for you called Is It Me? Making Sense of Your Confusing Marriage. Get a free chapter by going to isitmebook.com
I will also send you my weekly Hope Letters for Christian women in emotionally and spiritually abusive marriages.
In this kickoff to a powerful new series, The Narcissism Trap, Natalie Hoffman challenges a popular narrative in abuse recovery: labeling an emotionally abusive partner as a “narcissist.”
While that term may feel validating at first, Natalie explains how it can actually work against your healing by keeping you locked in the wrong story.
If you've been Googling “narcissist” at 2 a.m. to make sense of your painful marriage, this episode is for you.
🎯 Key Takeaways:
-Stop giving the abuse a medical label. Narcissism is a clinical diagnosis that can distract from the very real pattern of covert oppression you’re living in.
-Start calling it what it is: oppression. This isn’t about someone who’s mentally ill or just "struggling." This is about power, control, and silencing your voice.
-Shifting the language helps you shift your mindset. When you stop analyzing him and start focusing on your own story, healing becomes possible.
-You're not crazy or overreacting. You're likely experiencing strategic emotional abuse often invisible to outsiders but deeply damaging inside your home.
Get Today’s Free Resource:
🧐 Are you wondering what is happening inside your own painful and confusing marriage? I wrote a book just for you called Is It Me? Making Sense of Your Confusing Marriage. Get a free chapter by going to isitmebook.com
I will also send you my weekly Hope Letters for Christian women in emotionally and spiritually abusive marriages.
![Stop Calling Him a Narcissist (Use This Word Instead) - The Narcissism Trap Series Part One [366]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pBFvLMNT3xk/mqdefault.jpg "Stop Calling Him a Narcissist (Use This Word Instead) - The Narcissism Trap Series Part One [366]
In this kickoff to a powerful new series, The Narcissism Trap, Natalie Hoffman challenges a popular narrative in abuse recovery: labeling an emotionally abusive partner as a “narcissist.”
While that term may feel validating at first, Natalie explains how it can actually work against your healing by keeping you locked in the wrong story.
If youve been Googling “narcissist” at 2 a.m. to make sense of your painful marriage, this episode is for you.
🎯 Key Takeaways:
-Stop giving the abuse a medical label. Narcissism is a clinical diagnosis that can distract from the very real pattern of covert oppression you’re living in.
-Start calling it what it is: oppression. This isn’t about someone who’s mentally ill or just struggling. This is about power, control, and silencing your voice.
-Shifting the language helps you shift your mindset. When you stop analyzing him and start focusing on your own story, healing becomes possible.
-Youre not crazy or overreacting. Youre likely experiencing strategic emotional abuse often invisible to outsiders but deeply damaging inside your home.
Get Today’s Free Resource:
🧐 Are you wondering what is happening inside your own painful and confusing marriage? I wrote a book just for you called Is It Me? Making Sense of Your Confusing Marriage. Get a free chapter by going to isitmebook.com
I will also send you my weekly Hope Letters for Christian women in emotionally and spiritually abusive marriages.")
![4 Types of Trauma Bond Withdrawal Symptoms You Need to Know [386]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qeO6s-Ck_w0/mqdefault.jpg "4 Types of Trauma Bond Withdrawal Symptoms You Need to Know [386]
If you are stepping away from an emotionally or spiritually destructive marriage and suddenly feel hit by severe anxiety, physical illness, obsessive thoughts, or a desperate urge to run back, you may be experiencing trauma bond withdrawal.
When a relationship alternates between unpredictable emotional mistreatment and periods of seeming “niceness,” your body builds a biological and neurochemical dependency on that cycle. Breaking free triggers a physical and emotional detox.
Today’s episode is a faith-informed, clinically grounded guide to understanding trauma bond withdrawal symptoms, dismantling weaponized scripture, and restoring your nervous system.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
-The Grey Rock Method for Emotional Abuse Victims (https://www.flyingfreenow.com/lets-learn-the-duck-duck-grey-rock-game/)
-Flying Free Kaleidoscope Program (http://joinflyingfree.com)
Get Today’s Free Resource:
🧐 Are you wondering what is happening inside your own painful and confusing marriage? I wrote a book just for you called Is It Me? Making Sense of Your Confusing Marriage. Get a free chapter by going to isitmebook.com
I will also send you my weekly Hope Letters for Christian women in emotionally and spiritually abusive marriages.")
![Why Do Your Friends Believe the Person Who Abused You? [372]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sXOw3biIgqk/mqdefault.jpg "Why Do Your Friends Believe the Person Who Abused You? [372]
What happens when seeing your ex derails all your progress? And why do your friends think hes such a great guy when you know the truth?
🔑 Key Takeaways:
- Why seeing your ex after months can feel like all your progress disappeared (it didnt)
- What trauma bonding actually does to your memory of the relationship
- Why emotionally abusive people seem so great to everyone else
- The false equivalency that keeps people from believing abuse survivors
- How to know if youre lonely for him or for something else entirely
🎁 I want to give you a free gift. It’s the audio version of my book, All the Scary Little Gods. It’s a spiritual memoir about healing from religious trauma and toxic programming. You can listen to it FREE by going to scarylittlegods.com
I will also send you my weekly Hope Letters for Christian women in emotionally and spiritually abusive marriages.")
