This is a two-book collection of previously released books by Lauren Kozlowski, Trauma Bonding and Coercive Control.

Trauma Bonded:

"If your relationship is so bad, why don't you just leave them?"

"If you were in such an abusive relationship, why did you stay with them for so long?"

"If you knew you were in a relationship with such a toxic person, why didn't you ask people for help?"

If you've ever been asked these questions, aside from being ignorant and hurtful, you'll know it's beyond frustrating. The answer to the above questions, while it's complex and often confusing, can be given with two words: trauma bonded.

If you find you're in a relationship that you know is so toxic that it's crushing your very being, but you can't bring yourself to leave, you may be in the clutches of a tight trauma bond. If you're constantly feeling on edge, forever working to appease your spouse to little avail and like you're constantly being chipped away at with their abusive behavior, then I can understand how emotionally shattering it feels to live this way. If in the same breath, it breaks your heart to even consider leaving them because you can't imagine life without them, then I can understand that feeling, too, because I was trauma bonded to my abusive ex.

From my own personal experience and from the experiences other survivors have opened up to me about, this book will cover the following:

• What trauma bonding really is
• The seven stages that lead to you becoming trauma bonded
• The parallels that Stockholm syndrome has with trauma bonding
• The five stages you go through when you come to accept you're trauma bonded
• The cognitive dissonance a trauma bond can cause
• Breaking free from the traumatic bond

This book will also include my own experiences, and I'll draw upon those to help you really understand trauma bonding, and let you know that you're not alone in being shackled by this emotionally crippling bond. More importantly, this book will help you understand that the invisible chain that tethers you to your abuser can be broken.

Coercive Control:

The devastation of a controlling relationship has to be endured to be believed.

From the constant fear of upsetting your spouse, the walking on eggshells in case you've done or said something wrong, or the relentless feeling of anxiety, a controlling partner will beat you down until you no longer recognize yourself.

Coercive control will see an abuser dominate their victim's life; from the food they eat, the people they see, the places they can go and the things they can say. A controlling partner, through fear and intimidation, will seek to ensure their victim is subdued, to the point of accepting any and all abuse that's fired their way. By manipulation, gaslighting, lies, and hurtful insults, the abuser will make their victim a willing puppet on a string, ready to be utilized how the controlling spouse sees fit.

Coercive control is seldom talked about in comparison to other forms of abuse, yet it's so commonplace in relationships. Plenty of victims of this type of behavior may not even be aware that's it's full-blown abuse. Many more see controlling behavior as their partner's way of showing they "care". In order to shed light on this topic, and reach out to those who need help in understanding and overcoming a controlling partner, I have created this book as their starting point.

I was shackled to a malignant narcissist for many years of my life, being controlled and manipulated, day-in, day-out.