Ross Rosenberg's Blog

Toxic Empathy

Toxic Empathy Excerpt from Upcoming“The Codependency Revolution”Released with workbook in November 2023 Written by Ross Rosenberg, M.Ed., LCPC, CADCSelf-Love Recovery Institute — President/CEOPsychotherapist, Educator, Author, Expert Witness TOXIC EMPATHY Before describing toxic empathy, its healthy form...

Common Codependency Traits

Common Codependency Traits Excerpt from Upcoming“The Codependency Revolution”Released with workbook on November 1, 2023 Written by Ross Rosenberg, M.Ed., LCPC, CADCSelf-Love Recovery Institute — President/CEOPsychotherapist, Educator, Author, Expert Witness COMMON CODEPENDENCY TRAITS Although codependency has been...

We Are All Human Magnets

The earth is one colossal magnet with two opposite poles, like its smaller magnetic cousins. Each pole has opposite magnetic charges: positive and negative. As a result, a metal needle in a compass is highly sensitive to our planet’s magnetic field.

Taking on the Codependency Establishment

Iatrogenic Trauma: The Consequences of Ineffective Therapy

Iatrogenic trauma is the long-term suffering and distress caused by the poorly executed, mistaken, and/or incompetent treatment of any painful, limiting, or frightening mental health or medical problem. Such trauma is caused by a treatment provider’s unrealistic optimism, unfulfilled assurances of relief or a cure, treatment failure, the worsening of the condition, painful complications, or the creation of unanticipated unrelated conditions

15 Ways Narcissists Try to Stop a Break Up

The "Of Course" Method: Neutralizing Narcissistic Abuse

One of the most effective techniques for setting boundaries and breaking free from a pathological narcissist is the “Of Course Method.” It may seem like a simple turn of phrase, but “of course” are two small words that hold huge 

The Crushing Double Bind

I define the Crushing Double Bind as a strategic and systematic campaign to render the methodically weakened SLD helpless, by making them feel powerless and trapped. This Catch-22-like strategy teaches SLDs that any attempt to stop or escape their narcissist causes worse harm than staying put.

The Observe Don't Absorb Technique

Ross Rosenberg's Observe Don’t Absorb Technique (ODA) provides a person who is manipulated and/or harmed by an individual who derives power and control through the use of emotional domination, capacity to set successful boundaries with Pathological Narcissists.

The Journey to Self-Love: On Becoming a Rose: Poem

Breaking through to self-love
is the most difficult journey
for paralyzed and anxious
rose bud people,
whose roots are deeply
and inescapably implanted
in the inhospitable soil
of forgotten and discarded dreams.

"Empath" Is Not the Same as "Codependent"

I have to be honest, I do not like when the term “empath” is used interchangeably with “codependent.” “Empath,” which has its origins in the spiritual and metaphysical world, was never intended to be a replacement term for codependency. An empath is defined as a person with the paranormal ability to intuitively sense and understand the mental or emotional state of another individual...

"Codependency" No More

“Codependency” is an outdated term that connotes weakness and emotional fragility, both of which are far from the truth. The replacement term, “Self-Love Deficit Disorder” or SLDD, takes the stigma and misunderstanding out of codependency and focuses on the core shame that perpetuates it. However, inherent in the term itself is recognizing the core problem of codependency and its solution.

Codependent Love Poem

Men and women always have been drawn into romantic relationships instinctively, not so much by what they see, feel or think, but more by an invisible and irresistible relationship force.  Ross Rosenberg, a seasoned psychotherapist, professional trainer, and recovering codependent, calls this compelling and seductive “love force” the Human Magnet Syndrome.  “Chemistry,” or the intuitive knowingness of perfect compatibility, is synonymous with the Human Magnet Syndrome.  This is the attraction force that brings compatibly opposite, but exquisitely matched, lovers together: codependents and narcissists.

Codependency Anorexia: Are You Starving Yourself From Love?

Codependency Anorexia occurs when a codependent surrenders to their life-long relationship pattern to destructive pathological narcissists. I define codependency as an individual psychopathology that manifests within relationships. The codependent habitually finds themselves in relationships with pathological narcissists, with whom they give the lion’s share of love, respect and care (LRC), while being denied the same. Although they are consistently on the short end of the receiving stick, they stay in the relationship because they are both afraid of being alone and believe that if given enough time, they will be able to change or control the narcissist’s selfishness and entitlement.