Abusers do not just lie. They build entire realities that feel safer than the truth. Realities where doubt keeps you tethered, confusion feels normal, and leaving feels unthinkable. If you have ever felt like you were trapped inside a story you could not escape, this conversation will land deep.

Lisa sits down with psychologist and author Dr. Alan Godwin to unpack how abusers construct false realities through isolation, narrative control, and emotional manipulation. Together, they explore how these story-based fortresses are built slowly, why they target our deepest need to belong, and how abnormal behavior becomes normalized over time. What begins as trust turns into attachment, and attachment becomes the very thing used against you.

Alan explains why intelligent, self-aware people are especially vulnerable. Not because they are naive, but because abusers exploit empathy, loyalty, and the human instinct to give the benefit of the doubt. Lisa weaves in lived experience, naming the moment when what is true gets replaced with what only sounds true, and why survivors often end up defending the lie that is hurting them.

This episode is about understanding how you became blind, and why that blindness was never a personal failure.

The truth cracks the fortress. And once you see it, you can begin finding your way back to yourself.

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