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Stop Self-sabotage With Jessica Anne Pressler (episode 867)

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Stop Self-Sabotage with Jessica Anne Pressler

In this episode I sit down with psychotherapist, hospice grief counselor, and author Jessica Anne Pressler to explore the “traitor within”—childhood coping mechanisms that can become self-sabotaging patterns in adulthood. We discuss narcissistic abuse, trauma bonding, manipulation, and why it can be so difficult to leave toxic relationships, as well as the role of shame, grief, self-compassion, and healing childhood wounds in creating lasting change.

Topics

  • 00:00 Welcome to The Terri Cole Show
  • 02:01 The Origin Story Behind 40 Years of Healing Work
  • 03:43 What Is the Traitor Within — and How It Forms in Childhood
  • 08:14 Why Shame Keeps People Stuck and How Storytelling Releases It
  • 09:35 The Grief Nobody Talks About — Mourning the Life You Thought You’d Have
  • 12:02 Cassandra’s Story: Love Bombing, Manipulation, and Why Smart People Stay
  • 17:07 The Trauma Bond Feels Like a Drug — and Why You Can’t Just Walk Away
  • 21:47 Practical Tools for Rebuilding Self-Trust: Somatics, EMDR, and Journaling
  • 29:48 Terri’s Boundary Question: Jessica’s Hardest Personal Boundary Moment
  • 32:01 Where to Find Jessica Anne Pressler, the Book, and Her Podcast

Resources mentioned

About Jessica Anne Pressler

Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW, is a Columbia University–trained psychotherapist, hospice grief counselor, author, and mental health advocate with more than four decades of experience helping individuals heal from narcissistic abuse, trauma, grief, and destructive relational patterns. She is the creator of the Traitor Within framework and host of the podcast Your Traitor Within, where she explores the hidden psychological forces that shape self-worth, attachment, and healing. A passionate advocate for survivors, LGBTQ+ rights, and personal empowerment, Jessica combines clinical insight with emotionally powerful storytelling to illuminate the ways people betray themselves in the pursuit of love, belonging, and safety. Her debut novel, Traitor Within, is a psychologically rich work of fiction that follows Casandra, a woman trapped in recurring cycles of manipulation, confusion, and self-erasure. Inspired by patterns many silently endure, the novel explores how trauma bonds are formed, repeated, and ultimately confronted. With a foreword by Dr. Nadine Macaluso, bestselling author and expert in trauma bonding and narcissistic abuse, Traitor Within blends emotional suspense with psychological truth, inviting readers to recognize themselves in the story and begin making sense of their own experiences.

Jessica can be found on Instagram at @Jessicaannepressler

 

“We take skills that work that we had no choice because you don’t as a child, and we take them into our adult relationships.” — Jessica Anne Pressler

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