Author Archives: Shay Seaborne, CPTSD
The Overlap Between Narcissists and Predators
There is significant overlap between human predators and narcissistic behaviors, but they aren’t identical. Narcissistic behaviors often arise from deep relational injury and an underdeveloped sense of self that was shaped in environments where worth had to be earned through … Continue reading
What is the DARVO Tactic, and How Can We Respond?
Predators and other abusers often use the DARVO technique, a strategy that maintains control by destabilizing others. DARVO stands for Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender. It disrupts the relational context that helps people stay grounded in truth and … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse
Tagged abusers, boundaries, DARVO, DARVO tactic, Interoception, silencing, truth, witness
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How Can We Recognize Human Predators?
Recognizing human predators begins with listening to your body and your relational instincts, especially when they signal unease, confusion, or collapse. Predators often manipulate the connection itself, presenting as charming, helpful, or powerful while slowly distorting your sense of reality, … Continue reading
Posted in Predators
Tagged character, pattern, predators, predatory, relationships, support
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What Shapes a Human Predator?
The development of a human predator often begins in early relationships and environments that fail to meet fundamental needs for safety, attunement, empathy, and mutual respect. When a child is repeatedly treated as an object, used to meet another person’s … Continue reading
Posted in Predators
Tagged abuse, aggression, connection, development, fear, harm, pain, predators, safety, systems, unsafety
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Understanding the Predator-Prey Dynamic Through IPNB
The dynamic between the predator and the victim involves complex layers of relational manipulation, nervous system responses, and emotional regulation (or dysregulation), which deeply affect both the predator’s and the victim’s neurobiological processes. Through the lens of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), … Continue reading
The Most Dangerous Doctors Are the Safest
A system reveals its values by how it responds to vulnerability versus harm. In healthcare, when a doctor admits to struggling with substance use or emotional distress, the response is often punitive or shaming. Instead of being met with support … Continue reading
Posted in Predators
Tagged abuse, accountability, brand, cover-up, hospitals, image, justice, Mental Health, physician health, power, predators, substance abuse, systems
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Predator in Plain Sight: The USCG Photo That Speaks Volumes
This is the moment a Coast Guardsman sexually assaulted me. You won’t see it if you’re not looking. Most people wouldn’t. That’s the nature of this kind of violation. It’s subtle enough to be dismissed by outsiders, but unmistakable to … Continue reading
Posted in Predators
Tagged abuse, BM2, Coast Guard, Coastguardsman, Coasties, cover-up, Hampton Roads Sector, power structure, protection, safety, sailing, sexual Assault, US Coast Guard, USCG, Virginia, voyage
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Hidden in Plain Sight: Predators, Power, and the Systems That Shelter Them
I didn’t set out to study the neurobiology of predators. I got there by surviving them. My interest in this work comes from a long history of being harmed by people in power, capped by what is known as “The … Continue reading
The President Parenting Our Nation
Our nervous systems respond to leaders the same way we react to people who hold power in our lives, especially caregivers when we were young. That’s because our bodies and brains develop in the context of relationships. Safety, connection, and … Continue reading
Posted in IPNB of Hierarchy
Tagged alloparenting, America, Donald Trump, hierarchy, parenting, President, Trump, Trump Administration, USA
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