The Storyteller: Narcissist's Playbook

Analysis Part 1 - In April 2026, Isla Traquair, Richard Grannon and Mark Vicente met up in London ahead of the BAFTA screening of the documentary. The social media campaign had been running for two months and Sam Vaknin knew it wouldn't be long before he would be exposed as a fake professor accused of abusing therapy patients. 

As you may already know from social media, Sam's efforts to discredit the film and podcast have escalated significantly since the film's delayed release in July. It had originally been scheduled for May. Sadly some of our predictions have come true in relation to more women coming forward. 

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STAR Network - If you are affected by any of the issues in this podcast please check out the free global support network, including daily meetings, information and resources at https://starnetwork.org/
Join a virtual trauma support community and break free from the trauma before it breaks you. 

If you need immediate help:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/suicide/suicide-prevention-hotlines-resources-worldwide
https://www.samaritans.org
https://womensaid.org.uk/
https://solacewomensaid.org/
https://www.thehotline.org/

Stalking support and advocacy UK
https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/

To rent the documentary The Narcissist's Playbook: Empathy Not Included visit www.narcissistsplaybook.com

How many victims? - Criminologist Dr Graham Hill gives an estimate of the likely number of potential victims of fake professor and serial sex predator Sam Vaknin. Following a successful career in the police as a Senior Investigating Officer, including leading the British side of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Dr Hill studied for a PhD in psychology and now specialises in profiling sexual offenders. Dr Hill analyses part of one of Sam's therapy sessions recorded by a victim and observes typical language and patterns of a sex offender. 

Video version, evidence and analysis click on Patreon link below:
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STAR Network - If you are affected by any of the issues in this podcast please check out the free global support network, including daily meetings, information and resources at https://starnetwork.org/
Join a virtual trauma support community and break free from the trauma before it breaks you. 

If you need immediate help:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/suicide/suicide-prevention-hotlines-resources-worldwide
https://www.samaritans.org
https://womensaid.org.uk/
https://solacewomensaid.org/
https://www.thehotline.org/

Stalking support and advocacy UK
https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/

To rent the documentary The Narcissist's Playbook: Empathy Not Included visit www.narcissistsplaybook.com

TRIGGER SA - When "yes" means "no" - This was the title of Joyce Short's famous TEDx Talk in which she details her personal experience of SA. As the founder of the Consent Awareness Network, Joyce and colleague Nina Lucas deliver one of the most important messages of this entire series. CAN defines consent as "Freely Given, Knowledgable and Informed Agreement" by a person who has capacity to reason. They believe by defining consent within laws, it will help prevent sex crimes and rape culture. There is currently no country in the world that has a legal definition for consent. 

www.consentawareness.net

For the video version of this episode plus evidence and analysis click on Patreon link below:
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STAR Network - If you are affected by any of the issues in this podcast please check out the free global support network, including daily meetings, information and resources at https://starnetwork.org/
Join a virtual trauma support community and break free from the trauma before it breaks you. 

If you need immediate help:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/suicide/suicide-prevention-hotlines-resources-worldwide
https://www.samaritans.org
https://womensaid.org.uk/
https://solacewomensaid.org/
https://www.thehotline.org/

Stalking support and advocacy UK
https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/

To rent the documentary The Narcissist's Playbook: Empathy Not Included visit www.narcissistsplaybook.com

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Claire's Story Part 3 - In the final episode of Claire's story, she explains how Sam Vaknin knew which buttons to push to further destroy her mental health. Everything she had told him when she first approached him in a suicidal state, he used against her further compounding her desire to end it. Triangulation and discard drove Claire to the edge, but thankfully she found the strength to expose him by reaching out to other women and was horrified when she discovered how many victims there were. And there's a bonus update near the end recorded after Claire experienced a profound realisation about her past. 

For extra content including videos, evidence and analysis click on Patreon link below:
 https://patreon.com/thestorytellerpod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

STAR Network - If you are affected by any of the issues in this podcast please check out the free global support network, including daily meetings, information and resources at https://starnetwork.org/
Join a virtual trauma support community and break free from the trauma before it breaks you. 

If you need immediate help:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/suicide/suicide-prevention-hotlines-resources-worldwide
https://www.samaritans.org
https://womensaid.org.uk/
https://solacewomensaid.org/
https://www.thehotline.org/

Stalking support and advocacy UK
https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/

To rent the documentary The Narcissist's Playbook: Empathy Not Included visit www.narcissistsplaybook.com

Claires's Story Part 1 - Two weeks into the podcast's release, the victim who had reached out to Ann and brought the women together, sent a text to investigative journalist Isla Traquair offering to take part. Sam Vaknin's tailor-made abuse had left it's mark on her and it wasn't until listening to Ann's story, did Claire decide she was ready to talk. But her main motivation was to help stop her abuser from harming more women and believed another voice would strengthen the chorus to seek justice.

TRIGGER WARNING - this episode contains an account of a sexual assault and the topic of suicide.

For extra content including videos, evidence and analysis click on Patreon link below:
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STAR Network - If you are affected by any of the issues in this podcast please check out the free global support network, including daily meetings, information and resources at https://starnetwork.org/
Join a virtual trauma support community and break free from the trauma before it breaks you. 

If you need immediate help:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/suicide/suicide-prevention-hotlines-resources-worldwide
https://www.samaritans.org
https://womensaid.org.uk/
https://solacewomensaid.org/
https://www.thehotline.org/

Stalking support and advocacy UK
https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/

To rent the documentary The Narcissist's Playbook: Empathy Not Included visit www.narcissistsplaybook.com

Old wounds - Australian director Ian Walker had to leave a hotel in the middle of the night and fly home from Europe due to the abuse he suffered while filming Sam Vaknin for the documentary I, Psychopath in the late 2000s. When Isla Traquair reached out to him in 2025 to inform him of her investigation, seeing Sam Vaknin's name on the email brought back awful memories. In this fascinating interview Ian and Isla look back on his experiences and examine what has happened since. The most chilling aspect, Ian received similar claims from women two decades ago that Sam had been abusing them under the guise of therapy.

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I,Psychopath watch here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oxRwDFmjXKU&ra=m

STAR Network - If you are affected by any of the issues in this podcast please check out the free global support network, including daily meetings, information and resources at https://starnetwork.org/
Join a virtual trauma support community and break free from the trauma before it breaks you. 

If you need immediate help:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/suicide/suicide-prevention-hotlines-resources-worldwide
https://www.samaritans.org
https://womensaid.org.uk/
https://solacewomensaid.org/
https://www.thehotline.org/

Stalking support and advocacy UK
https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/

To rent the documentary The Narcissist's Playbook: Empathy Not Included visit www.narcissistsplaybook.com

The Wolf - there's no coming back from this explosive episode as the fake professor Sam Vaknin damns himself with his own words. For a man who claims to have an IQ higher than Einstein, he's been incredibly careless. There is no more hiding in plain sight. We see him, we see his lies, we see his stupidity and like he feared, the outcomes will be horrible. 

Following the recording of this episode, it was learned that no scholarship has been awarded through the foundation and the accounts showed a balance of 200 Euro. 

Although this is conclusion of the main investigation there is a lot more to come including another victim who has offered her voice after listening to the podcast. Also Ian Walker director of I, Psychopath, Professor Graham Hill, Evan Rachel Wood, Doug Buggle, HG Tudor, Lee Hammock and more. There are also two special analysis episodes filmed in London where Isla, Richard and Mark go through the early part of Sam Vaknin's smear campaign. 

For extra content including videos, evidence and analysis click on Patreon link below:
 https://patreon.com/thestorytellerpod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

STAR Network - If you are affected by any of the issues in this podcast please check out the free global support network, including daily meetings, information and resources at https://starnetwork.org/
Join a virtual trauma support community and break free from the trauma before it breaks you. 

If you need immediate help:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/suicide/suicide-prevention-hotlines-resources-worldwide
https://www.samaritans.org
https://womensaid.org.uk/
https://solacewomensaid.org/
https://www.thehotline.org/

Stalking support and advocacy UK
https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/

To rent the documentary The Narcissist's Playbook: Empathy Not Included visit www.narcissistsplaybook.com

Herculean Task - Sam Vaknin appealed to the filmmakers to focus their documentary on differentiating between the credentialed and the non-credentialed and goes as far to say it should be a crime to talk about narcissism online unless you are licensed. Investigative journalist Isla Traquair took on that challenge and in what is one of the most crucial episodes in the entire series, she unravels the fake persona he's spent a lifetime building. By the end of the episode, she tears it down leaving no doubt who and what Sam Vaknin is. 

For extra content including videos, evidence and analysis click on Patreon link below:
https://patreon.com/thestorytellerpod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

STAR Network - If you are affected by any of the issues in this podcast please check out the free global support network, including daily meetings, information and resources at https://starnetwork.org/
Join a virtual trauma support community and break free from the trauma before it breaks you. 

If you need immediate help:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/suicide/suicide-prevention-hotlines-resources-worldwide
https://www.samaritans.org
https://womensaid.org.uk/
https://solacewomensaid.org/
https://www.thehotline.org/

Stalking support and advocacy UK
https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/

To rent the documentary The Narcissist's Playbook: Empathy Not Included visit www.narcissistsplaybook.com

The horrors come to light - Richard Grannon was left grappling with his new reality after learning the details of the allegations of abuse against his former business partner. He's also shown written proof that Sam Vaknin knew he was infecting his patients with a cancerous strain of HPV. As a result of these revelations, Richard contacts the filmmakers and asks to be removed from the documentary but they have other plans. 

For extra content including evidence and analysis click on Patreon link below:
 https://patreon.com/thestorytellerpod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

STAR Network - If you are affected by any of the issues in this podcast please check out the free global support network, including daily meetings, information and resources at https://starnetwork.org/
Join a virtual trauma support community and break free from the trauma before it breaks you. 

If you need immediate help:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/suicide/suicide-prevention-hotlines-resources-worldwide
https://www.samaritans.org
https://womensaid.org.uk/
https://solacewomensaid.org/
https://www.thehotline.org/

Stalking support and advocacy UK
https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/

To rent the documentary The Narcissist's Playbook: Empathy Not Included visit www.narcissistsplaybook.com