Your Traitor Within

In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with Kiki Mullican, a certified neuroscience coach with an undergraduate degree in psychology and more than 20 years of experience in mental health, human services, suicide prevention, case management, and community support. Kiki’s work focuses on childhood conditioning, toxic family systems, scapegoating, trauma patterns, and...

In this deeply moving episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with psychologist, author, speaker, and podcast host Dr. Louise Beaubrun-Macaluso for a conversation about unimaginable loss, trauma, resilience, people-pleasing, grief, and discovering purpose after adversity. At just nineteen years old, Dr. Louise survived a devastating house fire that claimed the lives of fiv...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with Lisa Johnson, co-founder of Been There Got Out, high-conflict divorce strategist, certified domestic violence advocate, author, and legal abuse educator. Lisa shares her extraordinary journey through high-conflict divorce, representing herself through scores of court appearances, helping pass Jennifers’ Law in Connecticut...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with therapist, author, and educator Jennifer Parker, MSSW, for a powerful conversation about coercive control, intimate partner abuse, healing, and the internalized messages survivors carry long after a relationship ends. Jennifer is the author of Coercive Relationships: Find the Answers You Seek and the creator of the Journe...

The Business Behind the Trauma: Self-Sabotage, People-Pleasing, and the Entrepreneur's Traitor Within with Nikki Heyder.  In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with psychotherapist, author, and business mentor Nikki Heyder for a powerful conversation about the psychological patterns that quietly shape our careers, businesses, relationships, and sense of self-...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with Caroline Strawson, award-winning nervous system expert, Hay House author, speaker, and survivor of domestic abuse, coercive control, homelessness, and profound personal adversity. Caroline shares the deeply personal journey that led her from PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, debt, and the loss of her family home to becoming o...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with Dr. Debra Kessler, a licensed clinical psychologist, child neurodiversity specialist, and former pediatric nurse with more than 20 years of experience helping families better understand the emotional, neurological, and developmental needs of children. Together, they explore how the “Traitor Within” begins forming in child...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with filmmaker Ali Schmahl and actress/producer Stefanie Schmahl to discuss their psychological drama I Love You My Narcissist, a film exploring the devastating emotional impact of narcissistic relationships and the patterns that keep people trapped inside them. Through fictional storytelling grounded in real psychological dyn...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with Erika Fracassa, creator of Delusional to Discerning, to explore the confusion, cognitive dissonance, and emotional chaos that often exist inside narcissistic relationships. After spending 15 years in a relationship that left her questioning her own reality, Erika now helps others reconnect with their intuition and rebuild...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with therapist, speaker, and author Amy Watkins to explore how childhood conditioning shapes the way we move through relationships, identity, and self-worth. Amy shares her deeply personal story of growing up in a high-control religious environment, surviving sexual abuse, and learning how the coping mechanisms that once kept...

 In this episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with Victoria Lynn PonTell, speaker, mentor, and creator of the 7 Keys to Unlocking Your Radiant Beauty. Together, they explore the concept of the Traitor Within and how patterns like self-doubt, perfectionism, people-pleasing, and inner criticism keep women disconnected from their true selves. Victoria shares her personal j...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with Carissa Brockman, Canadian Certified Counsellor and trauma-trained somatic therapist, to explore the deeper psychological and nervous system patterns behind trauma bonds and narcissistic relationships. Carissa shares her personal story of being in an abusive relationship while studying to become a therapist, and how cogn...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with Lisa Sonni, relationship coach and expert in trauma bond recovery, to explore why people stay in abusive dynamics and how those patterns form. They discuss trauma bonds, cognitive dissonance, and emotional entrapment, and how these connect to the Traitor Within —the internal pattern that overrides intuition and keeps you...

In this powerful episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with Dr. John A. King—survivor, author, and advocate—to explore the long-term impact of childhood trauma and the patterns we develop to survive it. Dr. King shares his deeply personal story of early abuse, memory fragmentation, and the moment his past resurfaced later in life. He speaks openly about how survival mech...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with psychotherapist and author Kristine Jensen to explore how childhood shame shapes the way we see ourselves—and the patterns we repeat in adulthood. Kristine shares how early experiences of emotional neglect and feeling “not enough” can quietly turn into self-doubt, perfectionism, and a harsh inner critic. Together, they c...

Rewiring the Patterns That Keep You Stuck Show Notes: In this episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler is joined by therapist and relationship educator Savannah Kizzie-Rai for a powerful conversation about the patterns that quietly shape our relationships—and how they keep us stuck. Savannah’s work centers on nervous system regulation, communication patterns, and emotional safety. Dr...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW sits down with psychotherapist, author, and narcissistic abuse expert Chelsey Brooke Cole for a deeply honest conversation about how childhood wounds, trauma bonds, and the Traitor Within can keep people stuck in toxic relationships. Chelsey shares her personal story of growing up with a narcissistic father, how those early patter...

Your Traitor Within: Healing the Parts That Learned to Survive with Dr. Eva Altobelli In this episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW sits down with Dr. Eva Altobelli, MD , addiction psychiatrist and founder of Home-LA , a holistic mental health center in Los Angeles that integrates psychiatry, psychotherapy, and ketamine-assisted therapy. Dr. Altobelli shares how childhood ex...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW speaks with Marriage and Family Therapist Pinkal Panchal about how the emotional patterns we learn in childhood can quietly shape the way we communicate, handle conflict, and build relationships as adults. Pinkal shares her personal “Traitor Within” story and how growing up in a household where conflict meant silence taught her t...

In this episode, Jessica welcomes Yolanda Reshemah , a visionary and creative catalyst whose work is rooted in relationships, courage, and elevating people’s stories. Yolanda shares the “Traitor Within” pattern she recently identified in herself: waiting for permission, waiting to be seen, waiting for someone else to validate her before she fully steps into leadership, opportunity, and voice. Toge...

Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW is joined by psychotherapist and author Kristen Baird-Goldman to talk about why ADHD and other neurodivergent traits can make people especially vulnerable to narcissistic manipulation. They unpack the “self-blame loop,” rejection sensitivity, rumination (“my day in court”), trauma bonding, and why working with an ADHD-informed, trauma-informed therapist can be the diffe...

Season 2 of Your Traitor Within opens with a powerful conversation between Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW, and abuse recovery coach Beany, founder of Breakthroughs with Beany. Beany shares her deeply personal story of surviving a decade-long abusive relationship, the trauma bond that kept her stuck, and how her “Traitor Within” — the internal voice shaped by early wounds — convinced her to endure ins...

In this deeply personal episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler sits down with her longtime friend Margaret Josephs for an honest conversation about how childhood conditioning quietly shapes adult relationships — and how learning to recognize that internal “traitor” voice can change everything. Margaret reflects on growing up parentified, learning early to normalize chaos, over-resp...

In this episode of Your Traitor Within , Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW, talks with certified recovery coach Paula Devine, founder of Happiest Hour Concierge Sobriety. For over 30 years, alcohol was woven into Paula’s life — from high school and college partying to a career in the liquor industry and then into the “mommy wine culture” of early motherhood. On the outside she was high-functioning, invo...

Your Traitor Within — (@timstagramcpt) In this episode, Jessica welcomes transformation coach and personal trainer Tim Kassouf , whose story is a striking example of what can happen when insecurity, perfectionism, and pain go unspoken for too long — and what becomes possible when someone finally turns toward the truth of their life. Tim talks openly about the body-image wounds he carried since chi...