How We Lose Ourselves in Love: Trauma Bonding, Self-Abandonment & Breaking Free with Jessica Anne Pressler, Author of “Traitor Within”
Have you ever looked back at a relationship and wondered, how did I lose myself like that?
In this powerful episode, Wendy sits down with Jessica Anne Pressler — a Columbia-trained psychotherapist, hospice grief counselor, and author of the new psychological suspense novel Traitor Within — to talk about self-abandonment, trauma bonding, and the hidden ways we disappear inside our relationships. With four decades of clinical experience (and her own hard-won healing), Jessica explains what a trauma bond really is, why intelligent, empathetic women stay, and how the “traitor within” — the protective part born in childhood — keeps us people-pleasing and self-abandoning for decades. Most of all, she offers hope: the moment you stop abandoning yourself to keep everyone else comfortable is the moment healing begins.
If you’ve ever made excuses for someone, loved them for their potential, or struggled to walk away — this conversation will help you reconnect with your voice, your worth, and yourself.
What You’ll Learn
- What a trauma bond actually is — and why leaving can feel physically impossible
- The “traitor within”: the childhood-born protective part that keeps us self-abandoning as adults
- Why smart, empathetic women stay — and why understanding someone is never a reason to accept abuse
- How to tell narcissistic traits from the clinical disorder — without the social-media buzzwords
- The first steps to boundaries, going no-contact, and coming home to yourself
👉 Connect with Jessica
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