Breaking Free from Narcissistic Abuse

How Narcissists Trap You: A New Movie Shows Gaslighting & Coercive Control

• Kerry McAvoy, Ph.D. • Season 4 • Episode 244

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Ever wonder why narcissists feel impossible to leave—even when you know something's wrong? 

This week, filmmakers Ali & Stefanie Schmahl reveal how their docu-fiction hybrid "I Love You My Narcissist" portrays what no other film has: the internal experience of being slowly trapped by someone you love. 

PODCAST EXTRA EXCLUSIVE SEGMENT 

Find the exclusive second segment and weekly newsletter here. 

MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST EXTRA INTERVIEW 

🔹 Ali and Stefanie take you behind the scenes—revealing what it takes to tell stories with your heart. 

👉 Get immediate access to this extended interview

THE FILM 

• I Love You My Narcissist (ILYMN) 

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MORE ABOUT ALI & STEFANIE SCHMAHL 

Ali Schmahl (Director) and Stefanie Schmahl (Producer/Actress) are Berlin-based independent filmmakers who created "I Love You My Narcissist"—a groundbreaking docu-fiction hybrid featuring expert interviews with Dr. Kerry McAvoy, Dr. Ramani Durvasula, Lisa Sonni, and others. 

• Website: ilymn.film 

• Social: @ilymn.film on TikTok and Instagram

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Kerry Kerr McAvoy, Ph.D, a retired psychologist & author, is an expert on cultivating healthy relationships and deconstructing narcissism. 

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This podcast/video is for educational purposes only. It does not constitute therapy, counseling, or professional mental health advice. If you are in crisis, please call 911 or your local emergency number.

How Narcissists Trap You: A New Movie Shows Gaslighting & Coercive Control

Stefanie Schmahl: [00:00:00] We really wanted to portray how somebody actually can trust a narcissist and fall in love with a narcissist and become dependent of a narcissist. 'cause it's so easy to say later on in the relationship, oh, you should have known from the very beginning. But in the beginning, these relationships are great.

Ali Schmahl: They don't really understand. They could be also a target for narcissists. And it could happen to anyone, no matter how educated you are, how rich you are, how intelligent you are, how smart you are, it could happen to everyone. 

Dr. Kerry: The body is aware of it as danger, but the mind experiences as confusion. So you go back to the abuser trying to clarify the confusion, which is the very person who's putting you in danger.

Survivors get so much pushback about being in a toxic or narcissistic relationship. Frequently they hear why they should have just left. What was wrong with them. There's something must be wrong with their [00:01:00] personality, that they would stay for so long, which is why I am so thrilled to. To you, Allie and Stephanie Schmo, who is the producer as well as the director, and Stephanie is the actress in the movie, I Love You, my Narcissist, which portrays narcissism at multiple levels, not only between romantic relationships, but also in the family and institutions.

So let's learn more why they created this amazing film.

What does a healthy relationship look like? 

Dr. Kerry: We can take up hobbies together, 

like creating pottery pieces. Pottery sound of 

Film: a kiss. It starts so happy and loving and you receive all this validation. 

Stefanie Schmahl: Marry me, Michael, marry me 

Dr. Kerry: sir. 

Looks so beautiful. I'm auditioning for a big role in a future film. Deserve to.

I've directing over 50,000 audition, but when a unicorn comes along, [00:02:00] my focus sharps. This connection seems a bit murky. No, it's not. This is everything I've ever wanted. We'll often fight for the thing we want to be true, but it was just so perfect, which often means ignoring many signs that are uncomfortable.

You barely know this guy. I'll do whatever he takes.

Honey, do you love me as much as I love you? Yes, I do love you. You can trust me. Our sisters get really, really good at seeking out victims. This could happen to anyone and anyone out there who thinks this can't happen to them. Then they're the next one in.

Dr. Kerry: I am so excited today to be [00:03:00] interviewing Allie and Stephanie Shamal. I got aware of both of you, um, when I was reached out around the movie. You guys are coming out soon that, that I got to be an expert in, called I Love You, my Narcissist. And um, I thought that was a really novel idea. I was almost a little scared about the idea.

It seemed so kind of different. So I'd love to hear what. How the idea got generated and how you kinda moved it forward. 'cause it is a very different way of doing a movie. 

Stefanie Schmahl: Yeah, for sure. Uh, it was kind of a long process to get to the vision of the, uh, to get to the vision for this, um, film. Uh, originally we just wanted to do a pure documentary, meaning like, uh, we find some experts that we feel like they have the right expertise for the topic.

Bring them all together, bring them all to Berlin. 'cause we're located with our company in Berlin. And, um, interview them, maybe interview some, um, survivors, which we actually did for this film also. [00:04:00] And, um, then we thought, hmm, what could we do to create something new, something more excited that hasn't been done?

And that's kind of where Ali then came in and had a great idea. Do you wanna take over? 

Ali Schmahl: Yeah. Um. For me, the, the, the, the very first idea, as Stephanie already said, um, it was also because, because my personal experience in my family is also, um, um. A decision, uh, making option for, for, for, for me to, to take, uh, on this project.

And as, and Tani came up with the idea, yeah, hey, let's, uh, make a film about narcissism, but this time, and instead of putting focus on the narcissists, uh, themselves, we put, we put focus on this or by, so, so we can, we can reveal some, some red flags, some, uh, structural, uh, behaviors and, and stuff like this.

Um, and then, um, yeah, we came up with the idea and after a while after we took the idea out, uh, [00:05:00] for, for, for, for 1, 2, 3 months or so, because we didn't want to make a documentary for, for YouTube or, or just for social media about the film because with that, we might not be able to reach, um, as much audience as possible.

I came up with the idea of making a hybrid genre film, a Yahoo fiction, where we have documentary parts with the, with the real experts, and we have a, we have fictional stories that are based on true events and real stories, and we, we possibly mix them together. So, um, at the end, we get the best outcome, uh, uh, for the film.

So we also could connect better to the audience and, uh, make it more believable, make it more, more. More touchable for the audience. So, um, then um, after that we decided to, to come up with the stories. We got two real stories, uh, that are already happening [00:06:00] right now. They are still ongoing. And then at the same time, we interviewed around 15, um, people, uh, survivors of narcissistic ABOs.

They were so, um, generous to share their story with us, um, in a very, very, uh, let's say, um, worthy, uh, base that we don't share with anyone. But we, we could use those elements into the field and we took those two stories to real stories and we. These 15 survivors real life experiences in different, from different parts, from different situations into the main film and main, main story of the film.

And we, we could make, I narciss it, 

Dr. Kerry: you know, it hit me when you were saying all of that, that I. You're right. It, the, the protagonist are the survivors, not, not the, the narcissist. And, and I was thinking back of all the films or movies that I've watched thinking, for example, succession, which is a family of narcissists, [00:07:00]or there's a lot of other moves, movies that usually the takes from the, the, the protagonist, even though there's really the antagonist is usually the bad guy or the bad person.

And then we get it through their then, so that's fascinating. What made you decide to take that. That view. 

Stefanie Schmahl: I mean, that was clear for us from the very beginning that we wanted to tell the survivor story and not the narcissist story. 'cause we really wanted to portray how somebody actually can trust a narcissist and fall in love with a narcissist and mm-hmm become dependent of a narcissist.

'cause it's so easy to say later on in the relationship, oh, you should have known from the very beginning, but. In the beginning, these relationships are great. There's so many nice things that the narcissist does for you. That's what we wanted to portray in the film. The beginning is so perfect and you feel so loved, and then it's easy to fall in love and fall into the trap, and that's, mm-hmm.

That was our main focus. And 

Ali Schmahl: as you [00:08:00] said, Dr. Curri, there are a lot of film out there where the, the narcissists are the protagonists, let's say, and the narcissism itself is shown very superficial, very, very, very superficial. And, and. People, people actually think that they are the, the, the good characters and they, they like them.

Uh, although they are the, the bad guys and they are, they are making the life of their survivor, uh, to hell. That's, that's, and with our company, we want to tell the stories that are socially, uh, relevant and socially critical. So we, we don't want to, to help in narcissism to, to be more focused. So we, we, um.

About it that we come, come up with the idea to put the survivors into focus. 

Dr. Kerry: Yeah. It's amazing to me how often we champion the narcissist. We, we often, we walk away from those types of movies, finding them [00:09:00] charming. Maybe we are even, we almost applaud their audacity, their outrageous confidence in, in. So we inadvertently then are celebrating them.

Without really realizing that's what we're doing. And what I thought was really powerful about this was that it was such an internal look at the survivor's experience. I mean, and I, I, when I read through the script, especially the final one, I was really, it was it, it was extremely emotionally provoking for me.

I mean, it brought me back to like, oh, I know this place. I really know. It captures it so well. Did you find. Working on the material distressing yourself? Yeah. 

Ali Schmahl: For, for me, working on the material and working on the s script itself, it was challenging because, because at many points I just, I just remember the situations that I had, um, in, in my life.

And it, it was, it was somehow tough. Um, and it was hard for me to, [00:10:00] to. Lose from that situations and thinking of the story that will raise awareness and, and educate people who are not familiar between relationships and, uh, that, that was, that was very challenging and that was, that was also not easy to, to.

To disconnect from the situations that I really, uh, had in my life. And during the shooting also, there were some, some scenes that were, uh, uh, three years for me and I had to put my director's chair into other room, uh, with my monitor and alone. No one else should be there so I can, I can be by myself and take my time, uh, for that particular scene or situation.

And that, that was tough. A challenging. Yeah. 

Dr. Kerry: Yeah. What do you what? How about for you, Stephanie, because you also play a unique role. I mean, I haven't even stopped to introduce you guys what roles you play because you were both the producer and also the actress, which [00:11:00] meant you were doing double duty there.

And Ali, you're the director, but you probably also have other roles as well, I'm assuming. Yeah. Yeah. So for you as, when you talk about it from a producer standpoint, from an actress's standpoint, I, I would love to hear what that felt like, what the differences were like for you. 

Stefanie Schmahl: Uh, so like, during the whole writing process, um, we were looking obviously at, at the characters from the outside and trying to portray the most details that we could, which was a challenge in itself because.

In the film, we only have so much time to tell the stories, and then we had so many ideas that we wanted to bring in, and then some we had to throw out just because of the time. And then later on, so, so I had a clear vision of the characters, also the character that I was playing, Sarah, from the outside.

And then when I went into my acting role, I had to look at her from a completely different perspective. Like all the judgment that I had for her, I had to throw out of the window. [00:12:00] Find different motivations for her. So, um, that was interesting for me to step into that role. 'cause I think I learned a lot from her as well in like, setting my own boundaries and standing up for myself a little bit more.

And what I learned throughout this whole process, um, of working on the film and like of the writing process, of the acting process, um, is I'm, I think I'm more aware now about how I wanna communicate with people. And, um, I got, I think I got better at reflecting on what I'm doing, what, what I'm doing, what I'm giving and, and what I'm expecting from others and how I can voice that better.

Dr. Kerry: That's fascinating. Yeah. I know for me, even getting in this whole realm of abuse has forced me to take a hard, long look at how do I communicate my needs and what do I do when I don't get what I want, when the way, the, the way that I want them. And 'cause that's really where we. We step in and, and hurt people, we start to [00:13:00] exploit or manipulate people.

Yeah, that's, that's fascinating. You know, I was, I just before I went on this air with you two, I was, did a little clip on cognitive dissonance as I was processing one of the dangers of cognitive dissonance, which is the confusion that survivors feel, which you guys portray so well. I mean, I think that was the part that gripped me because I found that to be the most agonizing component of my, my toxic relationship was the fact that.

This is what, this was a novel idea, I'd never thought of it before, was that the body is aware of it as danger, but the mind experiences it as confusion. So you go back to the abuser trying to clarify the confusion, which is the very person who's putting you in danger, which creates that bind. That's why abusers or survivors go back to the abusers because they keep thinking, they're gonna unlock the confusion and then resolve the tension.

So I, there are several points in this script that you did that to the point where it was like almost to me, feverish pitch, did you? Uh, [00:14:00] and I thought the pacing was brilliant. How did you figure out how to do that so that it doesn't, because, you know, it's interesting, this movie is quietly moving, but it also at an emotional level is it's, it's going way up.

Very intense, very fast. So how did you kind of manage all of that? 

Ali Schmahl: The for, for that? Um. While we were writing the script, we, we, we tried to, for, for em revision, for every rewrite we tried to put ourself. Outside of the production as a, as a very, very strange audience who, who doesn't know their story, who doesn't know what's going on, but will happen and read it through and through and through and try to, to understand, okay, this, this part is very slow.

This part is too fast, this part, this part needs, needs more work. So at the end we could, we could improve. That part or those parts. Um, so in a way that, that the film [00:15:00] could possibly connect to the audience in the best possible way. Because, because for a film, if, if you make a film and don't connect with the audience.

You, you, you don't reach what the goal that you have with your film, but if the film connects itself to the audience and the, the audience connects themselves to the, to the, to the film, you have what you want. Yeah. And for us, it was very important and, uh, that, that we can, we can, we can connect the audience and the film together and their stories together and somehow, somehow build up a, um, a sense of um, um.

Feeling that audience also, maybe they, they don't experience that or they didn't experience that or so they feel that they could possibly feel the characters and feel their story and say, yeah, okay. I totally understand because. Often the problem is people from outside, they look at those relationship and they say, yeah, okay.

It won't happen to [00:16:00] me. It's, it's, it's the fault of the, the person in that relationship, they, they know better they could get out of this relationship and so on, and they don't really understand. They could be also a target for narciss narcissists, and it could happen to anyone, no matter how educated you are, how rich you are, how, how intelligent you are, how smart you are.

It could happen to everyone. 

Stefanie Schmahl: Yeah. And then we also wanted to show that it can look different. The type of abuse can look different. The narcissist can look different. You could be in a, like people that ex that fall in love with a narcissist or have another relation to a narcissist, family relation. It can always look different.

They can have different jobs, different ages, and um, yeah. Then it was super helpful for us that we had so much research that we had. That we were in contact with, uh, you guys as, as our experts to like ask questions and look at your videos and, um, have so many [00:17:00] people that we could interview and integrate all these details into the stories.

I think that helped a lot. 

Dr. Kerry: I realize we've jumped into, we're almost halfway through the interview and we haven't really even explained what the movie is. So let's talk for a moment for those who are like, okay, what are they really talking about? So explain what this movie is because you do a very novel thing.

So obviously everybody by now knows it's a movie about narcissistic relationships, but give us a little bit of kind of an overview of it. 

Ali Schmahl: Okay. Um. The movie title is, I Love You, my Narcissist. We have also a shortened version. It says, uh, I-L-Y-M-N. Um. The movie is about two collectors, um, that are very self-aware, that are very strong, very self-confident, and they, they get to meet, to meet, um, their partners at the beginning and they think that they, they met their, their soulmates.

Um, no one better can, can have no nothing better can happen to them. And throughout their story, the narcissist. [00:18:00] They start manipulating them, they start confusing them. They start love bombing them. They start gaslighting them. And in, in that way, after a while they, they lose their self-confidence. Um, because for example, we have, we have in a story, we have Michael, um, who is a, a refugee in Germany and uh, wants to get the residency and.

And he needs help because, because the, the government doesn't ac accept that they reject, uh, his asylum blame. So he needs help and he meets Sarah and, um, they start dating this, she gives him a job, uh, in, in her, in her foundation for, for refugee help. They start dating. They start, and, and Michael thinks that.

He met the woman of, uh, his dreams. But throughout the story, the, the, the traits of the, uh, narcissism, they, they make him to lose his [00:19:00] self-confidence because, uh, and his personality actually, because Michael writes every day, uh, diary in his notebook until out the film. He loses that personality. He starts writing less and less and some, and at the end he can't write anymore because he doesn't have any, any personality there because he's confused.

He is, he is. He doesn't know what to do and he blames himself the whole time as if he's the, the problem. He, it's his own foul that everything is happening right now is going just not. Right. And the other story, I think Stephanie can, can tell about the other story, what is, what's going on in today. 

Stefanie Schmahl: Yeah.

The other story, the other story is about Emily, an aspiring actress. She is working on a career for years and hasn't had a big break or big steps, you know, in her career. But then she meets a casting director who finally sees something in her and offers [00:20:00] her a chance to get roles and, um, position her and help her with her career and then.

Obviously that excites her. 'cause finally she has this chance, and while working with him, she also falls in love with him. And later on he is taking over more and more of the way she's presenting herself, the way she dresses, the way she talks, who she talks to. And um, yeah. So she's also losing herself within this relationship.

Dr. Kerry: Yeah. Yeah. And, and then you do, another thing is you don't leave it there. You bring in experts who then comment on the storyline, which I thought was a brilliant idea. 

Ali Schmahl: Yeah. For that, for that, um, we, we, we talked about it, how we can, how we can clarify the, the situations that are happening in the field because, because.

Me personally before, before I start doing researches and getting, getting to know more such relationships and this, this, uh, uh, [00:21:00] um, traits. I even didn't know what narcissism is. And after doing the researches and after reading about it, watching, watching your videos, uh, with the other experts, um, I was thinking by myself, oh my god.

That's my real life. I, I live, I live in such life for over 25 years and I, I, I wasn't aware of that at all. I didn't know, and that's what, what happens to many of survivors, they don't know what they are. Right now, but at, after a while after, they are drama bandit, after they are trapped into the, into this relationship and doesn't have really a way out, they just realized that's an IC relationship, that's an IC abuse.

And, um, and then came up with the idea of, of having experts also in the film to clarify the situations to, to. Dive deeper into every situation [00:22:00] and clarify that so that the audience can, can understand that better. Because, because many times you see a situation, you don't realize that you don't really know what is going on and why.

But if the experts clarify that. You just, you just just understand. Yeah. Okay. And you, and it, it, it makes you think that if you had that situation in your relationships before, or if you have it right now, or even if you are the one who is doing that. Because, because we got out to the feedback from some, some, some, some audience that we, that we, uh, did the test screening, um, they said.

I was scared because I thought that I might be one of the narcissists. I don't, I, I don't know yet. Um, and, uh, some of them they told, they, they, they told us. Yeah. Um. Many of my relationships were like this, and I'm happy that it doesn't take long to get out of this after [00:23:00] three, three weeks, one month or so, uh, we just ended that relationship.

And, and the, the experts like you, Dr. Kerry, like the other experts that we have, uh, Dr. Ramani, Lisa Soni, Danielle Rodin, Manji, Rury, Emma, Davy, you are. You are such amazing experts in the field of narcissism and you are educating people. You are helping here helping survivors and, and people who are in these, those relationships to get to get a better understanding of this topic and possibly find a way to get our relationships and to overcome the trauma bonding because.

It's also really tough to, to overcome a trauma bonding, uh, in a short time. So they need also help. And then we came up with the idea, we contact you, uh, six experts and see what comes next. Um, how we can, uh, move forward if, if we come together, if we could come together, if we can, we can have you in the film and as soon as you said, yeah.

Um, we, I would like to be [00:24:00] in the film and the other expert as well. We were so excited. We were so happy because we didn't actually expect that, that you, you guys say yes, 

Dr. Kerry: but you really didn't. You thought we would say no. 

Ali Schmahl: I, I don't know. Because, because because it's, it's tough to, to have, to have, uh, a really good experts like you in, in, in independent projects.

Because, because many, many, many people, they expect too much from, from an independent film, and we didn't have. We didn't have that resource. So we, we hoped for that, that we can, that we can come together and we can make a film that could educate people, that could bring more information, uh, to the public.

And we didn't, we didn't really expect that because, uh, as I said, it was, it was, it was. Uh, they, they couldn't, they couldn't see that how, how it, how it's, how, how the outcome is. But after you said yes, we were so excited. We were so happy to, to have [00:25:00] you all with, uh, you, Dr. Kerry, Dr. Ramani, Lisa Sonny, Danielle, Roddy, Mandi, trry, Emma da.

Such amazing people in the field. And now we hope for, for, for a successful, uh, uh, film at the end. Uh, so we can, we can raise more awareness and possibly help people to, to hopefully not fall into those, into those relationships and recognize that before it happens. 

Dr. Kerry: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and and more than that, you guys got people to donate their time and their energy, which is, you know, I, I bet you that was floored you to think about how much passion was behind this idea that I don't Yeah.

'cause I don't know if you guys realized how Yeah. How invested so many are of us are in this and that, that it was so exciting to be a part of this project. Yeah. So one of the things I was thinking about as we were talking is that. It is so hard to get people to appreciate the survivor's viewpoint. We, we immediately become defensive [00:26:00] and, and critical of their experience.

But what I loved is that not only did you drag us into their personal experiences, but that, that then you, you're using the power of the theater, of the contagion, of being in an audience. To where we can feed off of each other to heighten the experience. I don't know if you were aware of that. Was it any, was that any part of your conscious thinking to say, we're gonna, 'cause what, what I felt like is you, you heightened the empathy of the viewer through the experience of the storytelling, but also the experience of experiencing in a group ex of a group experience of the storytelling.

Does that make sense what I'm saying? 

Stefanie Schmahl: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Kerry: Yeah. Yeah. 

Stefanie Schmahl: I mean that's, that's, uh, that's what we wanna do with our product productions in general, that we wanna. Bridge the gap between different perspectives. Um, 'cause I think that's, that's what, uh, the arts should do, like, um mm-hmm. Creating empathy for different lifestyles and, uh, different experiences.

And, um, ideally we want to, we want people to go out of this [00:27:00] film and have conversations about this, about, um, how, how they relate to certain topics, what they think about certain topics and get closer to other perspectives. That's 

Dr. Kerry: your 

Stefanie Schmahl: main goal. 

Dr. Kerry: That's fascinating. And I, I do know that that tension, in fact, I just had a com a, a live where I was talking about narcissistic moms and a mother in that audience said, you just described me.

I'm a narcissistic mom. How do I stop? And it, it's powerful when people can recognize themselves, either as a survivor or as the abuser, which then. Thank goodness creates change, you know, an opportunity for real, for real transformation. So, so what's your ultimate goal for this? I mean, it may, I don't know if that's too big of a question, but Yeah.

Did you have sort of a hope for this? What would happen, maybe not just with the success of the movie, but also what, what the consequence of the success of the movie is? 

Ali Schmahl: Um, yeah. We, we do, we, we, we, we hope for a, um. As you said, we hope for a successful theatrical run, limited theatrical run at the [00:28:00] beginning and after that we hope for, for a successful, uh, streaming run.

Um, and we hope for it that. This film makes people think about themselves, about their relationships, about their possible future relationships, so they could recognize the red flags before they, they they are, they, they, they get stuck in those relationships. Really, really hope for that because if, if, if someone is in, is in a narcissistic family, so.

They, it's not their choice, but hopefully they might be able to find a way to get out of this. And for the people who, who find partners and they, they, they think that they are, that the partners are soulmates or the, the best possible person in this world. They, they, hopefully, they, this film could help them to make the best possible decision [00:29:00] and don't go for it.

Blindsided and just, just. Go into it and see what, what comes next. Hopefully that's, that's, that's our goal with this film because, 

Dr. Kerry: yeah. 

Ali Schmahl: Um, because if, for, let, let's say this, this way, if we reach, for example, 10,000 people worldwide and these 10,000 people could possibly find a way and not fall into such relationships or get out, out of such relationships.

That's more satisfying for us than having 10 million viewers who just watch the free and say, yeah, okay, that's it. Done. 

Dr. Kerry: Yeah. Yeah. You wanna be more than just a good evening of entertainment is what you're saying. Yeah. 

Stefanie Schmahl: Yeah. I also wanna add that, um, we would like people to go out of this film and also consider, um.

Where they could probably, um, stand up for themselves more and set clearer boundaries on how to communicate them. [00:30:00] Um, 'cause I think that's always a process. Like that's something that's always developing. Where, where's the line? Where are my boundaries? Um, and I think a lot of times we just go through life without thinking about it.

And this could be more thought of more often. And then also, um, it would be nice. If people go out of the film and think also about their responsibility and their relationships are also at their workplaces, for example, if they deal, um, with, with institutions, for example, like we have in the film, but also, um, for example, if they have, if there's some kind of power dynamic, for example, if they're a teacher, that they're more aware of what's happening to other people around them, that they like living realities that they haven't been aware of, um, before.

Dr. Kerry: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 'cause the other thing we didn't mention is that this, this film shows multiple narcissistic relationships at multiple levels, like you said, institutional, familial, and also both sexes. You have both a, a male as well as a female narcissist [00:31:00] portrayed in it. So thank you so much for this. I, I would love to jump over to the podcast extra and talk about.

The, the art of filmmaking and what goes into it from just to sort of, for people who are curious what the process is like. 'cause I don't know, for me getting to view the back end of it, I was like overwhelmed. I mean, this is, this is a massive machine with so many moving parts. So I'd love to kind of break that down with you, but how can people find out more about I love you, my narcissist.

Ali Schmahl: Um, to find out more about I Love You, my Narcissist movie. Um, there is a link, um, where people can, can, uh, visit, um, and also, um, uh, prayer register for the batch party because the film will be out soon, um, in a couple of months. And we'll send, send, send out, uh, an email to the people who register for the, for the V party.

So they, um, would be, um. The, the, the first ones to watch the film before everyone else. Um, that's also, um, that's also bonos that we [00:32:00] give to people who, uh, supports us, uh, from, from the very beginning where we are not yet, uh, ready for, for, for the release. And, um, there is also the, the, the, the film has also a website and also on TikTok and Instagram.

We have also, um, uh, a, a profile there where people can, can visit the, the film and get more information. It's called I Film. It's also the web, the, the website is also the same. If they type, uh, in their browser, I LMN film, they will see a website and yeah. 

Dr. Kerry: I appreciate that. Thank you so much, guys. It's really wonderful.

I, I've, I so enjoyed working with the both of you and I just, it's been a privilege to be a part of this project, so thank you so much for being my guest today. Thank you. 

Stefanie Schmahl: Thank you. 

Dr. Kerry: It's 2:00 AM again, and you're replaying that whole conversation over and you're wondering yourself, was it really that bad?

Or maybe I'm just being dramatic. So you start to draft that, I'm sorry, text again, [00:33:00] because the guilt that you're feeling or the confusion you're experiencing is just unbearable. And you know this loop because you've been there before. But I want you to know that you're not alone. I'm Dr. Kerry McAvoy. I'm a retired psychologist and for 25 years I've been helping people untangle exactly what toxic relationships do to your mind, how they create the confusion, the self-doubt, and that trauma bond that keeps pulling you back in.

Here's the truth. Recovery isn't about getting more information. It's about having the right support in the exact moment you need it. That's why I've created Reclaim You. It's a private, always available coaching app built from my work and my content organized into an extensive library that you can actually use when you're triggered inside it.

You'll get five minute lessons when your brain can't handle a deep dive. Check-ins that meet you exactly where you are. Whether you're feeling strong, shattered or numb boundary scripts that help you say no without overexplaining grounding tools that work fast [00:34:00] when you're activated and progress tracking so you can see proof you're healing even on days when it feels like you're not.

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Kerry Kerr McAvoy, Ph.D.

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