Toxic hope is the survivor’s belief that the narcissistic person will finally change. Learn to recognize it and move into grounded recovery.
Manya Wakefield
Manya Wakefield is a narcissistic abuse recovery coach, coercive trauma specialist, and the developer of the Coercive Trauma Recovery Method™ and TENEL™ (Traumatic Exposure to Narcissism in Early Life) — proprietary recovery frameworks built from seven years of direct professional work with survivors of coercive control, narcissistic abuse, and Adult Children of Narcissists. Both frameworks have been reviewed by Dr. Michael Kinsey, PhD, clinical psychologist, New School for Social Research. She is the founder of Narcissistic Abuse Rehab, a global social impact platform launched in 2019 to support survivors through evidence-based recovery frameworks. Manya is the author of Are You In An Emotionally Abusive Relationship (2019), a resource used in domestic violence recovery groups worldwide. Her original research contributions include the Global Coercive Control Legislation Index (2020) — the first systematic index of its kind on the web — and the Global Femicide Legislation Index (2026), comprehensive legal references used by advocates, legal professionals, and policymakers internationally, cited in peer-reviewed publications including the Southern Illinois University Law Journal, Palgrave Macmillan, and the University of Agder. Her expertise has been featured in Newsweek, Elle, Cosmopolitan, HuffPost, Parade, and YourTango. She hosts the Narcissistic Abuse Rehab Podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. All content on this site reflects Manya's direct professional experience working with survivors of narcissistic abuse and coercive control, her published research, and her ongoing advocacy work.
Arizona HB 2995, the Alec and Lydia Act, would force family courts to weigh domestic violence and coercive control before parenting time.
If you have spent any time inside the legal system as a survivor of coercive control, you know what it is to watch a piece of legislation move. You know the years between a bill arriving in committee and a bill reaching enforcement. You know the difference a statute makes when it names what happened to you. You also know…
Narcissistic mirroring creates a false soulmate connection. Learn the psychology, the signs, and how to reclaim your identity in recovery.
The discard phase is the third stage of the narcissistic abuse cycle. Learn what it is, why it hurts so much, and how to recover.
The devaluation phase of narcissistic abuse explained through cutting-edge 2024–2025 research on gaslighting, attachment, and trauma bonding.
Mortal discard names the category of terminal patterns in coercive control — social, extraction, induced-suicidality, and homicide.
Kellie Sutton’s case established the UK’s first “unlawful killing” inquest conclusion for self-inflicted death following coercive control.
Jealousy baiting is the deliberate use of comparisons and manufactured rivals to destabilize a partner. The research, patterns, and recovery.
Dr. Haezreena Begum Abdul Hamid calls for Malaysia to recognize femicide. Three recent cases reveal a crisis hidden inside homicide statistics.