Narcissism, Gaslighting, and Bad First Dates, Eva Levina

Eva Levina is an expert in narcissistic abuse recovery, a speaker in that field, and the author of the memoir series Death Is No Reason to Stop Living, a true story of surviving years of covert emotional abuse, recognizing manipulation that was hidden in plain sight, and rebuilding a life from the ground up. Like many survivors, Eva didn't realize she was in an abusive relationship for years. There were no black eyes, and no obvious signs. Instead, the abuse came through criticism disguised as concern, control disguised as love, isolation disguised as protection, and gaslighting that slowly eroded her confidence and sense of reality. After leaving the relationship via brutal discard, Eva began the long process of understanding what had happened. Writing became part of that healing journey. Her memoirs were written not only to tell her own story, but to help others recognize the warning signs before they lose themselves.

In this interview, we talk about meeting her future abuser and falling in love, sex, playing the victim, red flags, waking up in the ICU alone, emotional abuse, criticism, gaslighting, childhood trauma and personality disorders, creating a false realtiy in the mind of an abuser, recovery, therapy, family, denial, depression, codependancy, how to know when to get out of a bad relationship, emotional resiliance, becoming an options trader, bad first dates, her books, things families and friends should not do or say to a victim of emotional abuse, and more.

Links are on the podcast website