5. Psychopathic Punishments: Mind-control in Portland Maine, No One Knew the Truth

In this episode, we’ve temporarily moved forward in time to speak of psychopathic punishments and how the monster uses them to maintain obedience of his (or her) prey. This topic, though extremely difficult to speak of, is central to how the monster controls his partner once he’s ensnared her through his masks of “charm”, “psychopathic infatuation” and an inundation of attention (see episodes 1-3). I invite listeners to interface their own “punishment stories” as I offer (stammer through) just one of myriad personal narrative recollections describing some of the psychological details involved in psychopathic punishments. If you are not the prime target of a monster, I invite you to reflect on experiences where you may have been his unwitting protégé; his auxiliary victim. Make no mistake about your immunity to a monster’s flattery and seduction: whether you are a neighbor, colleague, patient, associate or mate, you have likely been in collusion with him. As you listen to the Monster Stories Podcasts, you may have a tendency to believe that the psychological dynamics of which I speak occur to only a rarified group; to someone else less aware; never to you. However, my hope is that through these personal narratives, and the exploration of psychological nuance intrinsic to psychopathic behavior, you will come to realize how common these dynamics are; how plentiful psychopathic chaos is everywhere; how we are all susceptible to being ensnared and undoubtedly have been. The vocabulary I use may not be part of your lexicon, but my descriptions are universal. In this narrative, we see how gaslighting is used by the monster not only to isolatehis prey from others, but to confuse her (him) from confidence in logical thinking. We see how when the monster fears disobedience or exposure, he shortens the psychological tether upon which his prey is always affixed. We see how masterfully the monster uses hypnosis to create mirages. The images he implants in the minds of others as well as his prey, become more “real” than the "actuality" of a phenomenon a person is witnessing (see link to Derren Brown). This legerdemain is typical of the well-practiced monster who has used the sinister tool of gaslighting for most of his life. Deception and psychological manipulation are central aspects of gaslighting and triangulation. Hypnotic suggestion or mind-control, is employed by the monster to confuse both his prey and those who encounter his prey. This menacing skill, permits the monster to cause perceptual disorientation and doubt within the thinking patterns of his prime target, usually his mate. It also allows the monster to deprive his prey of the necessary reification she needs from others to break free of him, for, it prevents others from seeing her harrowing predicament as well as her psychological and physical duress and helping her. Others who know the monster's prey, have been bamboozled by the him into seeing her not as she truly is, but as the contrived image he has manufactured and presented them with. If the psychopath is a professional, as in my case (a psychiatrist), he uses his social status as a signifier of plausibility when he implants these statements of perceptual contradiction in the minds of others. see more notes on the www.monsterstoriespodcast.com This podcast has been a production of Honestly Speaking LLC. Suzann Kole, Ph.D. has worked in academe and the mental health field for over 40 years. She holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and...