Are you involved with an abusive, controlling or manipulative partner? A new series of face to face workshops built around the work of our Consulting Clinical Psychologist Dr Joseph M Carver aims to help.

It might be your spouse, your parent, your co-worker…even your child. Chances are, someone with a significant role in your life has a personality disorder. Dr Carver’s new guide to personality disorders in relationships puts the reality in plain English; more than just a list of diagnostic criteria, this explanation describes what it’s really like and offers tips for victims.

Facing your mortality can indeed be a shock, and one which might provoke deeper reflection than “better go out clubbing while I still can”.

Readers continue to tell us that Dr Carver’s article about relationship losers, abusers, manipulators and controllers — and how you can protect yourself from them — rings true. How about you? Have you dealt with someone like this?

Dr Carver’s thoughts — and his thoughtful replies — on manipulators and controllers in relationships continue to resonate with our readers. It seems that experience with this type of behaviour (‘loser’ behaviour, for short) is widespread, and consistent themes are being reported by people from all walks of life. This thread continues the discussion.

We sure didn’t foresee that a couple of blog posts about Dr Joe Carver’s article called ‘Are You Dating a Loser?’ would wind up attracting some 260 comments from readers. But now that we’ve had to split the discussion thread 4 times — and brought Dr Carver on board as Consulting Clinical Psychologist with his own regular column — we’re pretty sure he’s on to something.

That’s according to CounsellingResource.com readers, many of whom have found themselves in relationships with what psychologist Dr Joseph Carver has dubbed “The Loser”. With over 170 comments, Dr Carver’s article about The Loser has become one of our most popular; we’re opening up a new discussion thread for readers interested in Dr Carver’s insights.