I saw Gil with my narcissistic abuser. When we went to see him I did not understand that I was being narcissistically abused. I thought we were just constantly arguing, because I wasn't "good enough." For more than a year, my partner's emotional and verbal abuse was referred to as his "mistakes," and his "blunders." The constant criticism, the lying, cheating, the name calling, and blame shifting were all minimized, and we were told that I was "frustrating" my partner. What was even worse was that my depression and anxiety was diagnosed by Gil as "atypical obsessive compulsive disorder" and Gil recommended that I be treated with Lexapro, which I took. Due to Gil diagnosing me with "atypical OCD" the abuse worsened because now my partner had "proof" that I was "the problem" and that I was "crazy." I became so convinced that there was something so seriously wrong with me that I caused my partner's rage that I became suicidal. Luckily, eventually, I found a new therapist, who properly diagnosed the dynamics, and assured me that I was not the problem, and that I had been abused by both my partner, and our therapist, and I was suffering from PTSD. I later contacted Gil, and asked him how he would have treated us if I was being physically abused, and not emotionally abused. He admitted that if the abuse had been physical he never would have called it, "David's blunders," and he would have had "a totally different approach to the couples counseling." It is horrifying to me, that a couples therapist did not recognize narcissistic emotional abuse, and understand that it is just as damaging as physical abuse. He also misdiagnosed PTSD as "atypical OCD."
My partner and I are no longer together, but he has now come to realize that he was abusive, and he is getting therapy. He admits that due to the couples counseling that we got from Gil he felt that he was "a good man" who "made mistakes" and that I was the problem, because I "triggered" him. With proper therapy I am finally recovering. read more
