Blog by Marcia Williams, Licensed Therapist, Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Coach

Marcia Williams, LPC & Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Coach was featured on a recent episode of the "Ask Lloyd" series hosted by family lawyer, Lloyd Malech, where she shared her expertise on how to protect yourself and heal from narcissistic relationships.

She responded to evocative questions that cu...

 “For years, I believed that survival was enough. That staying in what was familiar—no matter how painful—was safer than the unknown. But what if safety was never the goal? What if freedom is where true healing begins?”

 For survivors of narcissistic abuse, safety often looks like staying small, st...

Living with a narcissist for 30 years has taught me the stark contrast between covert and overt narcissistic abuse. While covert narcissism is more subtle and manipulative, overt narcissism is loud, demanding, and exhausting in ways I never anticipated. My experience with overt narcissistic abuse wa...

Life is a journey of ebbs and flows, where some days feel light and full of possibility, while others seem heavy and uninspiring. One of my clients recently shared a deeply personal journal entry about navigating one of those “blah” days, where motivation feels elusive, and emotions weigh us down. W...

I never thought that 30 years of marriage to a narcissist — filled with pain, helplessness, sacrifice, and suppressing my own needs and feelings — would eventually push me to fulfill my wildest dreams. The pain I experienced at the time felt endless, but looking back, it was the spark that changed m...

I sat in my quiet office one evening, a warm glow from the lamp casting a soft light over my desk. I had just wrapped up another fulfilling day, guiding clients as they navigated their own paths through narcissistic abuse recovery — a journey I know intimately. Three years ago, after thirty years in...

It's been three years since I divorced my husband, a man I spent 30 years of my life with — a man I now know was a narcissist. And even after all this time, I still notice the impact of the abuse in ways I didn’t expect. One of the most frustrating and persistent effects is the foggy memory and inab...

It wasn’t all bad. I remember the good times, when he gave the kind of love and affection I’d always dreamed of. We had those magical date nights where everything felt perfect. He made me feel special, like I was the only person in the world who mattered to him. I was madly in love, and I would have...

Leaving a 30-year marriage to a narcissist was the hardest thing I have ever done. For years, I lived in a fantasy — a fantasy that I was a wife who would never divorce, that we were living in the perfect marriage. But it was just that — a fantasy. Beneath the surface was a toxic dynamic, one that e...

When I reflect on my life before therapy, it’s clear to me now how deeply entrenched I was in the manipulation of my husband, an overt somatic narcissist. Back then, I was trying to navigate the maze of my emotions on my own, constantly second-guessing myself while bending over backward to meet his ...

For thirty years, I lived in a marriage I believed was normal. I didn’t have the language to explain the chaos or the pain; I just thought this was what marriage looked like. I was the wife who would do anything to please her husband, believing that was my role — to sacrifice, to bend, to accept. Hi...

One thing I have learned during my journey of recovery from narcissistic abuse is that after we do all of our research on the narcissist, their personality, their behaviors, and what motivates them to behave the way they do, we then have to take a long hard look at ourselves, preferably in therapy, ...

I made it this far. I made it through the storm. Though I didn’t know I was in the storm, as the storm was just my life. And I accepted it as normal. As they say, “It is what it is”. But no more. Today, I have a new purpose. Not just to survive, or to make it through, or to make do. Now, my purpose ...