Hello and welcome to my podcast, The Wellness Project with Des. On today’s podcast episode, I speak with Mia Hanks about healing from the abuse she endured from her narcissistic husband.
I’m Desiree, a Mental Health Therapist and Holistic Wellness Coach that is passionate about helping people improve their mental health and live a healthy and fulfilled life. One way I do this is by interviewing experts in the field of mental health and wellness as well as those that share their first hand accounts with their mental health journeys. In this episode, we will hear from Mia about her marriage with her husband with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and how she healed from the abuse.
Mia Hanks is a survivor of narcissistic abuse. She was married to her ex-husband for almost 30 years. Looking back, she can now see the signs but during her marriage, she wasn’t aware of the red flags. She knew deep down that something wasn’t right but it was easy for her to explain away concerning behaviors. Due to the chronic stress, gaslighting, manipulation, and psychological abuse, Mia began having physical symptoms. She explains that she was sick all the time and was experiencing chronic pain. At this point, Mia knew she had to make changes in her life and relationship because her health was suffering.
Not knowing where to start or what to look for, Mia began reading about “toxic relationships”, “unhealthy relationships”, she looked up what healthy relationships look like, and she took many online quizzes. At some point she came across narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Mia remembers reading about NPD in the DSM and resonating with much of what she was reading. Mia and her husband sought out a couples therapist to work on their marriage. Mia had no idea that her therapist was about to change her life forever.
In this powerful conversation, Mia explains common tactics narcissistic abusers use such as lovebombing and gaslighting. She explains why it’s so easy to explain away concerning nehaviors and red flags, and why it’s so difficult to leave. Mia also educates us on the big differences between having narcissistic traits and Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
Listen to my conversation with Mia to learn about narcissism, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and how to heal from narcissistic abuse.