Our Approach
After Narcissistic Abuse
Dr. Aday's work names what traditional therapy often misses: the systematic occupation of your psychological center by another person, system, or institution. Recovery moves beyond boundary-setting into the deeper work of Decentering and Emotional Sovereignty.
This content is educational and informational. It is not psychotherapy, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and it is not a substitute for care from a licensed professional. Reading this page does not create a therapist-client relationship with SOMA. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 or call 911.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions About Narcissistic Abuse
How do I know if what I went through was narcissistic abuse?
Narcissistic abuse rarely leaves visible marks, so many women question whether it was real. The clearer signal is internal. You find yourself doubting your memory, apologizing for things you did not do, and slowly losing track of what you want and feel. Dr. Aday describes this as the gradual occupation of your inner life by another person's needs and version of reality. You are not too sensitive and you are not imagining it. If your sense of self shrank inside the relationship, that experience deserves real clinical attention.
What does narcissistic abuse do to your sense of self?
Narcissistic abuse is rarely a single event. Over time, another person's preferences, memory, and version of reality slowly come to occupy your psychological center, until making your own choices feels foreign. Your feelings get treated as the problem, so you learn to defer to them instead of trusting yourself. Naming this clearly matters, because it moves the focus from what is wrong with you to what was done to you. Recovery then becomes a process of reclaiming occupied ground, not fixing a personal defect. Dr. Aday's work helps you understand the pattern and return to the center of your own life.
Why do I doubt my own memory and reality after this relationship?
Self-doubt is one of the most common effects of narcissistic abuse, and it is not a flaw in you. When someone repeatedly denies your experience, rewrites events, and treats your reactions as the problem, your nervous system learns to distrust its own signals. This is how another person's reality takes hold. You outsource reality to the other person because trusting yourself became unsafe. In therapy at SOMA, we help you rebuild the connection to your own perception, so your memory and judgment feel like reliable ground again. You are not too much, and you are not confused.
Is setting boundaries enough to recover from narcissistic abuse?
Boundaries matter, but for many women they are only the beginning. Boundary work still keeps the other person at the center, organizing your energy around managing them. Dr. Aday's approach moves toward Decentering, where you stop orienting your inner life around the abuser and return to the center of your own experience. From there you build Emotional Sovereignty, the felt sense that your choices, feelings, and identity belong to you. This is deeper than a set of rules. It is the slow restoration of inner authority that abuse worked to erode.
How does SOMA help with narcissistic abuse recovery, and is it available virtually?
SOMA offers trauma-informed recovery grounded in Dr. Aday's frameworks of Decentering and Emotional Sovereignty. Rather than only managing symptoms, we help you understand what happened and rebuild identity, choice, and self-trust. You are not alone in this, and you do not need the perfect words to begin. SOMA sees adult clients in person at our Coral Gables office and virtually by telehealth for residents of the states where we are licensed. SOMA is private pay and out of network, and we can provide a superbill for possible reimbursement. Rates are shared during your consultation.