Prajinta Sthapitanonda Pesqueda has placed the idea of education as the centerpiece on her life table. She is an educator who is poised to continue her 4th decade in the classroom. As a high school teacher and former college professor, she has impacted many lives throughout the years and in turn, has been shaped by those experiences. She is also a student of life and has begun the most important lesson thus far as she learns new ways to create a life and a relationship with herself. These unchartered waters are a challenging task for one who has repeated cycles of dysfunction and abuse since early childhood. Generational trauma and childhood toxic programming present formidable obstacles to overcome on her way to health and wholeness. The catalyst for the current transformation began in June 2019 when her husband of fifteen years suddenly abandoned the marriage.

 

“When my husband discarded me, I was not sure I would survive. I had acquired a brand of learned helplessness and trauma bonding that created a crisis of identity. His narcissistic personality disorder and addictions coupled with my own addiction to him and abandonment issues caused formidable challenges that ultimately proved to be too difficult to overcome.Almost immediately, I knew this was not a regular breakup. This experience was something else entirely. I had to find my tribe and the right people who spoke the language of NPD and ASPD and knew what I was going through.”

 

The www.pesqueda.medium.com articles were received with so many responses of gratitude and support that I ventured into the world of podcasting, and after only one year, 40,000+ podcast listeners from all over the world have listened. I added a video blog after creating the articles and podcasts and developed a website to host the body of the work. Merchandise is available with resources that are in the form of toolkits with helpful materials that enable victims of emotional and/or other types of abuse to access useful tools that will help them navigate their journey toward healing. A collection of the best articles along with new ones will be released in the form of a book that will be released by the end of 2021.
There is no stigma or shame in being cast aside by a narcissist in the final stages of the abuse cycle. If everyone understood the recovery from relationship trauma and long-term intermittent reinforcement conditioning that causes PTSD, it would so much easier. But they don’t understand. And we must raise our voices and tell our stories without fear in order to shine a light of the darkness that is NPD.

Ms. Pesqueda is committed to a mission to remove the shame and stigma of abuse, support the victim and their supporters on their road to recovery, and educate the public on the growing epidemic of personality disorders and other mental health comorbidities that interfere with lasting, healthy relationships. She completed a Master’s degree with a focus on guidance and counseling as well as numerous training programs and certifications for healing facilitators, life coaches, and light-workers. Like so many others who have experienced the ravages of emotional trauma and abuse, she is leveraging her own personal tragedy to help others experiencing similar difficulties, and in return, she is closer to her own evolution that will manifest in the form of increased health, happiness, and hope.