Feeling Isolated – It’s common for people who have a relationship with someone who suffers from a personality disorder to systematically isolate themselves from other external relationships.

Feeling Trapped – Most people who have a relationship with someone who suffers from a personality disorder would like to bring an end to the relationship but are unable to or afraid to end it because they feel trapped in some way.

FOG – Fear, Obligation & Guilt – The acronym FOG, for Fear, Obligation and Guilt, was first coined by Susan Forward & Donna Frazier in Emotional Blackmail and describes feelings that a person often has when in a relationship with someone who suffers from a personality disorder. Our website, Out of the FOG, is named after this acronym.

The 5 Stages of Grief – The 5 Stages of Grief – Denial, Bargaining, Anger, Depression and Acceptance – were first introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross to describe a process which many people go through when dealing with a significant tragedy or loss.

Depression – Depression is when you feel sadder than your circumstances dictate, for longer than your circumstances last, but you still can’t seem to break out of it.

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) – Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a psychological injury that results from prolonged exposure to social or interpersonal trauma, disempowerment, captivity or entrapment, with lack or loss of a viable escape route for the victim.

Adult Children – An adult child is a term commonly used to describe any grown adult who was exposed to emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child.

Anger (Non-PD) – Anger is what you feel when you don’t get what you think you deserve. Non-PD’s often feel a sense of anger over past abuses, an uncertain future outlook, unequal burden-sharing and persistent denial of their personal needs.

Lightbulb Moment – A Lightbulb Moment is the description many non-personality-disordered individuals use when they first discover the existence of personality disorders. For the first time, they have discovered a plausible explanation for the strange and frightening behaviors of a loved-one or family member who suffers from a personality disorder and learn that their situation is not uncommon. It is as if a light were just turned on.