Book Section from Toads, and The Women Who Kiss Them.

As promised, Friends, here’s a sample from the Toads tome

(  http://tinyurl.com/3j49a6a  ).

It had some critical input from a social worker at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, NH, named Sonya Mastersen, MSW, who edited for continuity and provided ample mental health info as well as helped the theme stay focused. 

Tell me what you think, because we’re all Friends here and we want to make sure Aunt Alex didn’t wander into the Feeble Zone whilst listening to herself talk.

A FIELD GUIDE TO TOADS.

There are several different kinds of toads, in ALL shapes and sizes and varieties of scumbag, but here are some common traits.

### The only thing that fuels his motor is self-interest.  The SELFISHNESS factor in toadcraft is off the charts.  No matter how gifted of a manipulator he is, or how smooth his lies and deceptions are, his partner has noticed — often — that with this guy, it’s all about him.  And it is.  Without that normal, healthy ability to empathize, he can’t think of people, anybody, as even remotely important or even very interesting, except for what they can give him and do for him.  Taking that a step further, it’s all about what they can do for him to make his life at any given moment easier or more entertaining for him, or to make him feel like a fabulous guy right that minute.  He hurts others without guilt, he takes what he wants from others without remorse, he lies with revolting ease and has so little problem with it that he forgets his lies equally easily.  He wants people to be appliances, dispensing what he needs when he needs it, and quietly out of the way when he doesn’t.

### Most toads like to be busy, often with COMPULSIVE little preoccupations.  This helps keep him from thinking and feeling, things a normal person would actually enjoy doing.  Toads don’t really like thinking or feeling because they’re unable to bond, and the consequential loneliness is desperately, bone-crushingly desolate and sad.  His thoughts and feelings are steeped in self-loathing and anxiety.  No wonder he avoids them.
The Truth is, he grows bored with a woman very quickly.  Now, this is NOT a reflection on the woman.  He grows bored with EVERYTHING.
A novel: Gripped, then bored.
A celebrity: Enthralled, then bored.
His old girlfriend: Fascinated, then bored.
A sports game: Jazzed, then bored.
Aliens landing in the backyard: Riveted, then bored.
He’s addicted to adrenaline because it makes him feel alive, and he’s bored more easily than a monkey in an empty cubicle.  And that’s a hopeless combination.

### His MOOD SWINGS can give a person seasickness.  His memory for loving gestures, kindnesses his partner or others show him, ways they try to bond with him, gifts they give to him, anything good, is nonexistent seconds after it happens.  He can’t retain feelings and build on them because he doesn’t have that bonding “glue” that holds it all together.  After he gets what he wants, the “feelings” dissipate, the time together is forgotten (completely, as though it had vanished), and he’s on to what he wants next.  If he’s getting something, he’ll purr like a kitten right that moment.  If he’s being “refused” (even if it’s because she has an emergency and can’t come over right then, or she’s sick, or she got in a car accident, or is justifiably mad because he’s been a jerk, or, really, anything), he’ll have a tantrum like a spoiled and not-quite-right-in-the-head kindergartner.  He also gets moody very easily because he doesn’t have the mental health to handle even a little stress or anxiety, moderate life challenges, frustration, or disappointment.  He’s perfectly OK with rampant mood swings.  He doesn’t see them as a problem or even as at all unusual, because they reflect the tornado of contradictions, struggles, and chaos in his head.  When a sane person feels peaceful, they like having peaceful surroundings.  When a frog Prince feels energized and excited, he likes exciting surroundings.  Well, toads feel miserable and crappy all the time, and that’s the joy they want to spread around, all the time.  Frog princes are able to keep aware of the big picture.  Toads can’t.  They don’t have the mental parts.

### He’s DESPERATE FOR ATTENTION.  Lots of it.  He’s never so comfortable as when the attention is on him, the drama is high, or he senses that his lies are being bought and believed, lock, stock and barrel.  They love to screw up other people’s birthdays, celebrations and holidays (he doesn’t feel special, so why should you?), and prevent anyone but him from being the focus of happy attention.

### He expects his partner to be able to read his mind, all the time.  Not little messages at rare times, like he sent his partner a private “let’s leave” signal in a crowded room that she didn’t pick up.  Neither are we talking about minor differences in understanding about agreements, for which neither of them in the couple feel particularly responsible.  That’s occasional healthy couple stuff.  We’re talking MAGICAL THINKING, where he gets furious if she didn’t just magically know he wanted her home early, or just magically know he wanted her to seduce him with a certain sexual fantasy, or that he wanted to be left alone on a certain day.  She’s supposed to know when to be fully available and when to be scarce, when to baby him and how much, what to say, how to say it, when to call, what to offer, and when to be “challenging”.  She’s supposed to know what he wants, and want the same thing herself.  She can find herself feeling like she’s dealing with a three-year-old, except three-year-olds are (A) adorably innocent, (B) trusting, and (C) can be soothed with hugs, reassurance, and ice cream.  Toads just keep that toad tantrum shrieking away until he either runs out of steam, or she leaves, or he wants something else from her.

### He’s DEFENSIVE.  He’s ridiculously defensive.  He’s not just “sensitive”, he gets head-spinningly enraged at comments or looks that weren’t even criticisms or accusations.  The chip on his shoulder is so big, it’s a wonder he doesn’t tip over.  He can’t handle the most gentle conversation about something he could do to improve the relationship, or something he could change about the way he does things for his partner or her benefit, or even his own benefit.  He would call his defensiveness “explaining”, or “responding” to her harsh criticism or attacks, but all that’s really going on is his lashing out at her when the compost tornado in his head gets to spinning out of control — and just like with a tornado, there’s nothing she can do but take cover.  He’s so emotionally weak that he can’t engage in the slightest introspection without lashing out with all guns blazing, nor can he hear anything about the smallest discomfort or dissatisfaction on her part without taking it as a massive assault on himself.  It’s bizarre, and very destructive.

### The frequency of PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE behavior is off the charts with toads.  This means that he does mean and nasty things out of a desire to hurt and bother others, but usually in a sneaky, underhanded way that he can try to play off as a mistake, an overreaction or misunderstanding on the woman’s part, or something that he can try to pretend is thoughtful and meaningful on his part (when in fact it’s mean and nasty).  He does this because he’s got a whole lot of anger, hatred, loneliness, frustration and negativity in his head, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and passive-aggression lets some of it leak out to give him a little relief, while not making him suffer all the consequences that overtly aggressive and obnoxious behavior would.  Hurting others makes him feel impactful, and makes the outside of him more like the inside, a harmony and cohesion which we all seek.  (That’s why validation feels so good and why we enjoy calm, relaxing surroundings.)  There are thousands of ways passive-aggression can show itself.  If he’s not particularly smooth about it his plays can be pretty obvious, such as when he outright asks her what she wants, and then says in the same discussion that she can’t have it.  Passive-aggression using sex is guaranteed, especially in the way he’ll treat her afterward — like she’s in the way.  Denying her things (visits, plans, occasions, sex, anything), mentioning other women in pointless contexts, mentioning things he’s done without her that he knows she wanted to do with him, being late, being annoyingly early, canceling at the last minute, withholding answers, breaking promises, calling her with an invitation to a trip an hour before he’d pick her up, while knowing she therefore can’t go.  He can get very creative with his passive-aggression.   His passive-aggressive withholding and denial can even be about something that he wants too, but his compulsion to be passive-aggressive is so strong that it overrides rational thought, his own plans, and his own strategies.  And then he’ll get mad about how his own passive-aggression has messed up what he wants, and takes that frustration out on you.  Yes, it’s that crazy.  No, it can’t be fixed with therapy or love.

### This trait is critical, and universal across the toad board: He’s a huge CONTROL FREAK.  It’s his way or the highway.  He’ll be a rigid, bossy jerk.  He can be pretty sneaky about this, also, if he wants to be:  “Your making this easy for me is part of why this works.”  But more often, it’s more like,  “This is a way we can do things.  And if you don’t want to, that’s your choice.”  (Comments like this make it sound like she has a choice, when he’s actually toaded things up so badly that she has no such thing — she has no input or leverage in this “choice” except to take it or leave it. )

Some common (but not universal to all toads) ways they control things include:

~~ Laying a huge (and sometimes screaming) guilt trip on her if she wants to spend time with family or friends, even only occasionally or for special events.
~~ Going through her cell phone to see the numbers she’s dialed and received.
~~ Telling her how to dress (not preferences, but instructions or manipulations, as in, “If you love me and want me to be happy, you’ll dress this way all the time, except when I tell you to do differently”).  Hair’s too short, not enough makeup, her favorite lingerie is too lacy or not the right color.  He’ll imply that if she doesn’t wear what he wants her to, they can’t be together.
~~ Telling her she’s selfish and a poor partner if she wants to do things once in a great while that don’t include him or that he doesn’t particularly want her to do, like visit people important to her that he doesn’t like, or relax once in a while by herself with a video or the Internet, or take a nap.
~~ Threatening to end the relationship over stupid little things, or things completely out of her control.
~~ Suicide threats, threats of worsening his tantrum, or threats to withhold — anything he thinks might “get” to you.

He even wants to control the conditions of an argument with him — if he feels like fighting and she doesn’t, she’s “refusing to talk to him”, she’s being withholding, or a bitch, she thinks she’s superior, etc.  If he is being intolerable and she needs to talk to him about it, she’s not allowed to bother him with her “petty nags and bullshit”.  Period.  God help her if she’s got a good point to argue and a mind of her own, and wants to press the issue; if she stands up for herself, he’ll have a complete meltdown.  Sometimes he can be so ridiculous about it that it’s easy to think he might be joking.  But he’s not.  Keep in mind, it’s not about the issue at hand, whatever it is; it’s not about family, or what to have for dinner, or what his partner wants.  It’s about control.  If he can’t dominate her and his surroundings, he feels like things can — and will — spin wildly out of control, a possibility which terrifies him.  He doesn’t have the emotional health or substance to be able to see otherwise, no matter how many times he’s shown or told he can share control in a relationship and it will be OK.

FAQ:
“Toads are people too!”
— So are child molesters and pornographers.  Doesn’t mean you should bring them into your life.

### Something that gets a toad really, over-the-top nasty is some natural healthy boundaries on the part of people around him, in his presence.  His partner tells him she doesn’t want to talk about something right now, or do something with him because of her feelings or beliefs, or that she doesn’t want to get into an argument with him about the topic at hand because it’s too volatile or uncomfortable for her.  Toads HATE BOUNDARIES with every cell of their warty little being, and if she has them, he’ll attack them until they’re dust at her feet.  It’s partly tied in with the control thing, where he wants her to have nothing that’s really to herself, including feelings and information.  It’s also partly tied in with his wanting to be able to shame, hurt, and manipulate her if needed, and the more private the details behind the boundaries, the more he needs to know them.  He desperately needs to be able to get to her (to “smite”her if ever need be, as one toad put it).  But mostly his hatred of boundaries has to do with his total and complete self-loathing.  A woman’s healthy boundaries let her keep dignifying and identity-building things to herself, and protect her most primal, vulnerable core, that tender “inner child”, against assault, even in a healthy relationship. Toadboy takes her boundaries so personally that he’s sure she’s telling everyone everything, and sharing all of herself with everyone, except for him.  His damaged psyche tells him that the reason she has boundaries is because she thinks he’s not good enough to “know” her, and that she shuts him out only because he’s a warty loser.
Now, it’s absolutely true that he’s a warty loser and that she probably does have some huge red flags about him and wants to protect her tender inner self from him and his toadcraft.  But these aren’t the only reasons she has the boundaries he hates; it’s because she’s taking care of herself.  One of the most common ways toads exploit boundaries is the Machiavellian “trust and faith” move.  Toads want to be able to tell a woman to trust him and have faith in him and in what they have together, and have her buy into it, all in, so that he can exploit her easily and maximally.  If he can get her to believe in his BS with no evidence he can be trusted, or why she should have “faith”, he can feel like he has that power, that control, that ability to “get” a woman.  The kind of “trust” and “faith” he asks for requires a woman to abandon not only her boundaries against being manipulated, but also her common sense and her own wants, needs and plans.
Healthy trust and faith have substance, a pattern of performance, a history of worthiness to back them up.  In healthy relationships, trust and faith aren’t just words.

FAQ:
“I once met a guy who, on the first date, told me I was inflexible and impossibly rigid because I said that betrayal in a relationship should never be tolerated.  Is this something a toad would do?”
— Yes, but he’s also being an impossibly ineffectual one, showing his toad cards on a first date like that.  I don’t know what’s more appalling, his toadery or his stupidity.  But I thank him sincerely for saving you the trouble.

There are lots of terms that overlap here.  Narcissist.  Sociopath.  Antisocial Personality Disorder.  Borderline Personality Disorder.  Psychopathy.  Huge Jerk.  Same BS, different costumes.   The beauty of Aunt Alexandra’s Army and its work is, it isn’t the partner’s job to “diagnose” the toad, or to go looking through a copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, otherwise known as the DSM (and don’t get me started on the DSM), and try to sleuth out exactly under what category his toxicity falls.  If her stomach is in knots and she feel like something is wrong, and he’s got the toad traits mentioned above, he’s a toad, and Aunt Alex’s Army the right place for her.

17 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

17 Responses to Book Section from Toads, and The Women Who Kiss Them.

  1. Case

    Alex,
    Thank you for sharing a chapter with us. In this chapter alone there is so much depth and knowledge of the predators we have all faced. I sit here saying “yes, yes, and YES” he does that all the time. This excerpt reassures our beliefs that something is wrong. It details, in perfect absurdity, what life is like with the disordered. The best part, in my opinion, is the end where you state that it is not our job to diagnose them. In our quest to understand them and heal ourselves, I think we do get caught up in labeling them and trying to determine a cure, but that is destructive and NOT OUR JOB. Our job is to walk away, and your words give so many of us the confidence to do it! Thanks, again, for sharing. Great job! I can’t wait to read the rest.

  2. Christine

    Please..please..please…also market your new book in some format that people like me who don’t own a kindle can purchase it. Your writing is pure genius and I connect with so much you put out there.

  3. You can read the Amazon e-books on your computer! Downloading their Kindle application takes a few seconds and doesn’t cost anything extra.

    Go here for the Amazon applications that let you read (for no extra charge) on any computer:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sa_menu_karl3?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

  4. Sheila

    Alex, reading this blog post you have reached into my soul and exposed the mental cruelty I have experienced for almost 10 years. I walked away 7 weeks ago, not really too difficult as it was a transatlantic relationship which wasn’t going anywhere. A situation with a narcissist precisely as you have described. Your writing is inspirational.

  5. Melanie

    Alex,
    I just wanted to thank you for doing the dirty work of getting into the sick, twisted minds of these abusive people in order to help and guide the rest of us. I was dumped by my “best friend” of ten years several months ago and have been angry and confused ever since. Your excellent book really helped enlighten me on his “toady” behavior. Before I read your book I was saddened by the loss… now I am rejoicing that I am free!

  6. Awesome, Melanie. That’s the effect we’re going for here. :-) Thanks for sharing.

  7. Berengere

    Thank you Alexandra, I downloaded the book last night and read it in one go! It could have been written about my own personal toad ( well, when I say my own, of course I was unwittingly sharing the said toad with a number of other unfortunate ladies….) – It was such an easy read because it took away the depersonalising jargon and confusing messages (Narcissistic supply being the one that offends me the most – but then Varknin gives me the creeps anyway) and it really made me laugh aloud and put the whole thing into perspective at last, after a whole year of disciplined no contact and painful intrusive thoughts! so I have joined the Army and feeling great for it!!!! my little toad was a textbook little toad and has lost his significance in my life. so thank you again :-)

  8. Welcome to the Army, Cadet Berengere! I’m really pleased the manual is striking a chord with you. It would be wonderful if you (and Melanie) were interested in posting your thoughts over at Amazon as well.

    A toad-free year is excellent, despite his unwelcome presence in your head. Keep up the very good work.

  9. Berengere

    According to the BBC, common toads secrete an irritant from their skin that prevents most predators from wanting to eat them. Unfortunately for the Toads however, a few predators, such as grass snakes and hedgehogs, don’t seem to be deterred. If they avoid getting gobbled by a snake or hedgehog, toads can live for up to 40 years.

    Hurrah for the hedgehog! amazon review done Alex! pass on the good word 😉 My own personal bofo bufo is 10 years overdue sadly…..lol

  10. lilith

    Love this book! Great job:) I purchased one for my sweet,smart,strong ,valueable teenage daughter (just in case,recognize and avoid,hope she will never ever need to learn what toad crap is)
    I had doubtful pleasure to learn from personal experience with one ,(I married him,thats how ‘wonderful’ his cover up was but I figured him out,called him on his bs and manage to kick him to the curbs against everything and everyone not getting it). The bystanders,councelours,laweyrs …true,true,true… Blind ,naive ignorance and ‘humanity’ for a creep ,searching for provocation and faults in womans attitude is something that needs to be adressed and straighten up . I was lucky when it comes to few in the possition of authority (police officers traind in domestic abuse departament,judges as well as neighbours and people who got to know me as a kind,wise,genoerous ,independed woman,including toads friends and family members). I proved his toadcraft,won and got him legally busted.
    Funny that I called him Toad (his name was Todd) before I noticed this book;)
    Ps. My ‘evil’ -self in conversation with toad
    Toad: whats wrong with you????!!!!!
    Me: you

    Read,learn,memorize,use as a weapon!:)

  11. lilith

    Berengere:)

    They are so yucky that no one wants to eat them.
    Blah…;)

  12. awake

    Dearest Aunt Alex: In reading the behaviors you outlined in Toads, one of the hardest things I struggled with was taking on all his psychological games PERSONALLY. As much as it was a personal injury to my mental well being and my life personally, I kept failing to recognize the reasons he behaved this way towards me was because he was ill equipped to behave any differently!! These destructive behaviors he manifested towards me are simply hard wired in his personality . – it was nothing I ever did that prevented him from recognizing me as a worthwhile HUMAN BEING – of course he saw my good qualities – but good qualities are something a toad wants to destroy = he is covered with warts so why shouldn’t I be? He could have never missed or loved me the way non toads do even if he TRIED – he simply was unable. He will never be content in the richness and pleasure of human connection and/or condition as non toads are, which is the reason for their continual boredom. Witnessing all his antics, lies, and manipulations and utter sexual deprivation and deviation/perversion BORED ME – I am passionate, vibrant, alive, I have much wisdom, insight, – all of which he will never have – his sex was mechanical, unloving, unfeeling, robotic, – oh he gave a few grand performances but even his sexual act didnt last – nothing with them ever lasts, because none of it is real. Try having a deep, meaningful, heart filled discussion with them – they look at you as if you are speaking a different language – perhaps the language of toad? Which I am not familiar with. For someone that gets bored so easily isnt it strange how bored we become of all their falseness? They have to wear a toad persona to entice others because their real self is actually and literally DEAD. Just some thoughts Aunt Alex and my thoughts are worth more than pennies –

    • sarah

      spot on, Awake. the worst part is what they do to your self esteem. And the sexual creepiness leaves you feeling dirty, used and violated. I am struggling with the no contact because I desperately want to rip him to shreds. Alas, I know it is not possible because he has devalued and degraded me such that nothing I say to him will ever hurt him. It is the worst part for me.

      • Sue

        Had no self-esteem left by the time he left me for another woman.
        Married for 11 years and put up with his cheating lying, and drama.
        Left Me on my Birthday – just another kick in the gutts (or high) for them because they are so dammed cruel.
        His weird sex acts…..dressing up as a woman…..just disgusted me….felt like a blow-up doll.
        Think he would have gone with a woman, man or anything that could turned him on.

        Like U said nothing you can say to them will make any difference to them or hurt them.
        They are such cowards and fools and will never be happy with anyone for long because they have to seek new supply all the time in order to make them happy.

        Of course they will hate you because they “think” it’s all your fault and tell anyone including the other woman that you are nuts – just the like the ex-wife was? She probably was, bye the time he had finished with her.
        I certainly was drinking more, to escape the pain of his lies and deceipt.
        I promised to go into Therapy and I did – which he promised he would but also lied about that – he never went. Just another disgusting lie.
        It’s been a hard 12 months and now in the process of divorcing the piece of S..hit.
        I have never come across anyone in my life who has stripped me of self-worth, broken my heart and I am trying to get-back-on-the-path of recovery.
        He has ruined my reputation by slandering me – I have lost all our mutual friends through he lies.
        I wish you well in your recovery.
        I “know”what you have been through.
        Certainly won’nt “Dance with the Devil” ever again.
        Karma and Light To U.

        • heather mcdougall

          The toxic narcissist will use your friends to try to get a reaction out of you. Don’t give one. If your mutual friends believe all his lies and not you, then get in touch with some old friends who knew you before you ment him. Rekindle old relationships. Make some new friends through hobbies or classes.
          The most important thing we all survivors of this abuse need to do is forgive ourselves. Don’t bother forgiving them. We must forgive the mistakes we made and accept our humanity. I hope you are doing better now and feeling that dark cloud lift from your life. Best wishes to you.

          • Sue

            Thanks – I certainly have humality – and to hurt no human-being….These Leeches of Society have no humality – Called the Police – reporting untrue assault’s on him and his new woman.
            I blame myself for believing his lies and deceipt.
            I had a kind-heart and he has destroyed my faith in human-nature.

Leave a Reply to lilith Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *