Help Committee Report 2023

In 2023, the Aftermath Surviving Psychopathy Foundation received 68 contacts. Here we provide summary information about people who contacted us, including the countries from which people wrote to us and why. As always, we provide no information about any individuals to protect the privacy of people who are in touch with us.

As in previous years, for this report, we do not count several legitimate kinds of contacts as help requests. For example, we do not include here contacts regarding donations to the Foundation or emails that are related to carrying out other operations of the Aftermath Foundation (except for offers to help us). We also do not count sales emails (from people who want to offer us services for money) or group emails in which someone reaches out to a group (where the email is not part of a request or an ongoing communication).

Help Requests 2023

As in several previous years, the largest share of the requests came from people who did not provide information about their location. Where we could identify the location, the largest share of requests came from the United States. Even so, roughly one third of the requests reflect people outside the US.

The next largest share of requests came from the United Kingdom (18%) and then Canada (6%). Roughly 5% of the requests came from people in non-English-speaking countries. We continue to value the diversity of people who reach out for help. As we have discussed previously, we have published information in different languages. We currently publish at least some summaries of what we know about psychopathy (the website contained content about people with psychopathy in 13 languages in 2023). One thing we hear often is that, when people realize someone in their life has psychopathic traits, it helps them to make sense of the awful and confusing behavior they have experienced. Once they understand psychopathy, they can begin to get help. We are always hoping to find new ways to reach people around the world who are being hurt by psychopathic people.

If you happen to speak two languages yourself, please consider translating some information about psychopathy to help others!

 

Figure 1. Countries from Which Requests Came

We received quite a few different kinds of requests in 2023.

Of the 68 requests, the largest share (28%) reflects situations in which email communication did not reach the point of asking for a specific kind of help. It is unfortunate that, in some cases, an initial email that requests help is not specific enough for us to help without more information. In other cases, there is a question about psychopathy or about using the website. Sometimes, when we asked for additional information, the dialogue ended before we were able to respond to the request. We recognize that people may be reaching out for help in multiple directions. In these cases we hope that this means they have gotten help.

Twelve people wrote to express interest in helping the foundation. It is gratifying that so many people recognize the ways we can make a difference in helping people to recover from abusive relationships with people with psychopathy. Of course, our top priority is helping people who have been victimized or have survived traumatizing relationships.

Nine people requested specific kinds of help with situations in their lives. In all nine cases, we were able to provide a referral to a mental health professional who understood psychopathy. Another eight wrote to us with interest in the support groups for survivors (which began in 2023) and were referred to the volunteers who collected information and screened people for eligibility. Another seven wrote us to ask a question or obtain information. In most cases (71%), we were able to answer the questions, but in two cases we could provide only a partial answer.

Another nine people wrote to us with questions about membership or how to access the members’ page, or for help in accessing the website or survivors’ forum, and one wrote to share a survivor perspective.

 

Figure 2. Nature of Requests and Outcomes

 

It is our hope that more and more mental health professionals will continue to learn about psychopathy, so more of them are able to help the people who need them. And we are in the process of developing online courses to help educate therapists so they can be more effective in helping survivors.

If we can help you, please do not hesitate to write to us at support@aftermathfoundation.org.

 

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