“You may be one of those individuals who find it hard to accept the notion that there really are people as cunning, devious, and ruthless as your gut tells you the manipulator in your life is. That is, you may even be prone to engage in ‘neurotic’ denial. If you are, even when you’re confronted with abundant evidence you’re dealing with a ruthless conniver, you may refuse to believe it, reluctantly accepting reality only after being victimized too often”