Scars on the Inside: A Memoir

By: Julia Strong

Narrated by: Julia Strong

Narcissist. It’s a buzzword tossed around too freely, watering down its meaning. Too few people know that a true narcissist dishes out abuse to their prey so diabolical and insidious that it gets its own label – “narcissistic abuse”. This abuse often doesn’t include physical injury, making the wounds invisible and hard to prove or explain. Victims are often empathetic, loyal individuals—perhaps even someone you know or love.

Consider the boiling frog allegory, which describes a frog being slowly boiled alive. The idea is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put into warm water brought to boil slowly, it will be unaware of the danger and be cooked to death. This parallels my story in Scars on the Inside, whereby I was lured into the “water” using various tactics. I show the internal conflicts I wrestled with before eventually accepting the reality of my situation. I strive to answer the questions of why I stayed, how I tried to leave, and why I went back several times.

I hope to shed light on what life with a narcissist is really like and how the wounds can be so severe that victims become unrecognizable, a mere shell of who they once were.

©2025 2025 Julia Strong (P)2025 2025 Julia Strong