Expert guide to love-bombing: signs, psychology, and recovery. Insights from clinicians, peer-reviewed research, and survivor case studies.
Steven M. Sultanoff
Dr. Steven M. Sultanoff is a clinical psychologist and professor at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology, where he has taught for more than 30 years. He served as a clinical supervisor and spent 12 years as clinical director of a psychology training network. In 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Therapeutic Humor from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. Dr. Sultanoff contributed original expert insights on love-bombing psychology to Narcissistic Abuse Rehab, including his foundational observation that the extreme narcissist is a big game hunter — a framing that reorients the survivor’s understanding of what happened from self-blame to accurate analysis of the perpetrator’s program.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Steven M. Sultanoff explains why the extreme narcissist is not falling in love — he is executing a conquest — and what that means for the person he is hunting.