James P. Leone, PhD

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

Psychopaths wear masks, pretending to have human qualities such as love, compassion, loyalty, honesty, guilt, empathy, a conscience, self-insight and compassion (psychopaths have none of these qualities). We believe that we’re dealing with a normal human being. We don’t realise what we’re actually dealing with. Psychopaths 'mirror' us, reflecting back to us our own personality, needs, fears and desires and thus making themselves very likeable. When we like someone our defenses come down and we can be manipulated. Psychopaths... read more

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

Some of the abuse was this: -mocking, undermining, talking about people in third person, not being upfront in conversation (being slick) -attaching people to himself before they had a chance to do their due diligence and guiding people to not do their due diligence on him fully -influencing people with sweet voice and smile, being suave and acting like a renaissance man of the world -influencing what people think about him and the group using placed individuals who were younger or older, good looking, motivated, dramatic,... read more

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

Hilariously, Leon’s spiel amounted to this:  ‘Drop your defences, submit to his system that only he - a sadistic and manipulative man - knows about; he won’t tell anyone what specific type of therapy he practices, but you’re the one with the issue of not trusting him because of that. If you engage in his therapy, you’re better than other people who don’t, and this is a way for your wishes to come true, but only if you submit to him. You should trust him because he claims to be trustworthy, but you should also look past the f... read more

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

his advice was consistent and insidious. He said, “tell people how you think and feel openly. You will fight with them and then be friends. Go tell them. What do you think about what the other group member just said? Did you know they think this about you? You may be a boring and toxic person. You’re the key to the group’s success. As a therapist I know you are being pathetic because I get sadistic. As a therapist yes I am manipulative haha. I’ve devoted my life to helping people with therapy groups and now I am at the top o... read more

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

how to be easily manipulated or how to be Leon's long term client: - be unsure of the core of who you are (let people's comments override your self-concept even if they don't live in a way that you admire) - highlight & exaggerate negative feedback about yourself from others & disregard the positive - let other people define your worth for you (parents, friends, boss, co-workers, strangers) - let social norms dictate your worth (marriage, divorce, promotions, layoffs, childrens' accomplishments) - second guess your own... read more

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

He seemed to suffer from a manipulation and abuse issue, and his methods were quite rude and bizarre. He made things that were factually incorrect seem extremely believable and did not tolerate being called out on untruths or when people discussed him negatively. He took no responsibility for giving incorrect instructions or misinterpreting a situation incorrectly.  

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

He would tell people what they want to hear at first to make them feel good reinforcing incorrect harmful and misguided beliefs and attitudes (but it was incorrect and), but then he would inappropriately start to abuse them (which was harmful to them and again incorrect of him) but now he would tell that he supposedly exposing a dark truth about them because he doesn’t just tell people what they want to hear. People would get really tricked by this. They would run to him and he would make them feel good about them having inc... read more

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

He made a therapy out of his own narcissistic manipulation and instructed us to do it to others.  

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

It was important for him to create a false public impression, so he would deliberately exaggerate his professionalism to come across as someone who is extremely professional, while freely doing loose narcissist-psychopath stuff, and professional look he put a lot of effort in was meant to cover that abuse and malpractice and confuse people because in general you would not expect a professional looking person to talk and act with people like he did.