A great introduction into the world of the HSP and Malignant Narcissists by Shahida Arabi.

This new work focuses upon the emotional turmoil and the healing guidance and recovery that ultimately must follow in order to reform this broken cycle.

Our family courts is one area of centralized focus in which we need desperate legalization and change. We cannot continue with high case loads, people viewed as mere case numbers, and no individualized training for the court workers and staff. Judges have no idea what they are dealing with and often side with the abuser noting they are more believable and or credible even when the victims aka warriors appear with legal documents in hand to prove otherwise.

I've dealt with this matter personally, professionally, and internally as a survivor of a malignant narcissist to whom I'm now divorced since 2013 from this 11 year union with three kids.

Everything noted in this highly acclaimed work is accurate and I'd note if you ever need another voice to acknowledge feel free to visit my self help site for further discussion -The Lost Self Life After Narcissism- Facebook.

I'll add that you are your best judge and jury. If it feels wrong, if the relationship was rushed, if you feel lost and overwhelmed -never give up.

Find your inner peace, harmony, and wellness by partaking in any simple exercise or activity as journaling and writing is clearly a good way not only to help others but to let those who've experienced similar know they too are not alone.

When the warning signs were initiated for me I chose to believe in the greater good. I fell for the lies, the excuses, and the partial truths.

Do not make the mistake I made with a dual masters degree in Criminal Justice by believing the well dressed lie.

Narcissists operate from a false sense of self. They feel superior with grand ego's and don't believe the law applies to them.

The enabler, the loyal harem, those in support of these toxic individuals do so for a variety of reasons including fear, retaliation, and or reward.

You must note that smear campaigns are just as destructive as the original abuse subjected too from these toxic situations.

You need not be in a romantic relationship either as these individuals can be anyone from a boss, coworker, family, friend, or clergy to name a few.

Manipulation, gaslighting, triangulation, love bombing, projection, mirroring, hovering, and the subsequent stockholm syndrome and more which are terms you will often here but may not have known about till now.

This book is crucial to understanding the various levels of the DSM Manual of personality trait disorders like malignant narcissism while focusing upon HSP individuals who are sensitive and empathetic while also loving and nurturing.

These are the ideal targets of this toxicity and should be on careful alert.

Shahida Arabi gives a number of concrete examples with real time actions as well as professional help for those who need such and it's noted in the author's notes it was with love that this book was written with the blessings from LCSW certified individuals.

A must read for all!

Thank you to Shahida Arabi for this exclusive ARC copy via Netgalley in exchange for this honest review.

𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 ~ 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒍𝒚 𝑺𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏'𝒔 𝑮𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑻𝒐𝒙𝒊𝒄 𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒂 𝑨𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒊.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Are you a sensitive person? Have you always felt like the society treats your high sensitiveness as a problem which made you vulnerable to low self-esteem?
Or is it because of your empathic responses to situations always putting others first that you become often easily, a target of the toxic people? 

"Her book reads like a wise friend comforting wounded kindred spirits on a journey of recovery from relationship trauma." ~ Andrea Schneider

This book contains in-depth research-based information on how toxic people of types ranging  within the toxicity spectrum each executes abuses through flattery to deliberately malicious gaslighting and the victims are often the HSPs so this book is a must read for you if you think you are a highly sensitive person.

Accepting the fact that HSP personalities are a result of genetic proclivities, this book is a very helpful guide to be aware of your porous boundaries and how to exercise these boundaries, to be able to refute the self invalidations imposed by the toxic environment and manipulations and thus avoid condoning it. 

🌼Here it makes you see why it is a must step for an HSP to take the preemptive inventories suggested for healing to bar the toxic people from ingressing and honor and revere themselves  instead to lead a secure and healthy life. 

"𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝."

I chose to read this book from seeing the title and being an HSP myself, I have encountered people taking advantages and demeaning me but I have never succumbed to the extreme intoxications like so many mentioned in the book from gaslighting to sabotaging and tainting reputations by malignant manipulators through their convert tactics so this is a boost to barricading my life from them and always be aware of the red flags. 

This journey was like a mirror talking to me and patting me at the end that we should be proud of our specialties. 
Thank you @netgalley.

I haven't read many books about relationships with toxic people, so I can't tell you whether or not this one has similar tips.   What I can say is I enjoyed this book. It has a lot of information and exercises on how to deal with toxic people. It even gives resources at the end of the book.   There were a lot of typos and  I didn't like the red writing. I am hoping it will be fixed by the time the book comes out. All in all, It was a great book, and I am grateful that Netgalley let me read this in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised by this book, it does not pull any punches about toxic people and their effect on highly sensitive people. I was impressed by the amount of wisdom in the book and would highly recommend it.

4 stars
The Highly Sensitive Person's Guide to Dealing with Toxic People
How to Reclaim Your Power from Narcissists and Other Manipulators
By Shahida Arabi

I had not heard the term HSP before. But, wow I am shocked. I feel as if I have never felt so understood in my life. It's not every day that you can read a book and identify with almost everything inside.
Arabi backs up her statements with scientific studies. This book is a must-read for anyone who is an HSP as it explains the why of your intense emotions and the how of being manipulated by others occurs because of it.
The author has also included anecdotes of other HSPs and various experiences they have faced in their lives.

I highly recommend this book. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 


I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. The views given are my own.

I received this book from NetGalley as an eARC in exchange for a review. 

As the title states, this book is for highly sensitve people (HSP) who are dealing with various types of toxic people. 

I found this book to be very interesting, although less applicable to myself than I initially thought. It did however make me reconsider some relationships and that they may be more toxic than I originally believed. 
This is very much what feels like a typical self helf book and should not replace therapy.

This was incredibly insightful in examining the various behaviors of narcissists (both "garden variety" and malicious/sociopaths/psychopaths) and identifying ways to either react or disengage, depending on the person and the situation. I appreciated how the information was specifically tuned for highly sensitive people (or "empaths"), since I often feel that I am this way. The end of the book was dedicated to self-care ideas and techniques, which was a positive, helpful way to close the book.

This very serious book would be great for academics or for those with deep troubles with truly manipulative people. The tone of the book is academic, with references to the author's research. The book goes into the science of nacissistic personalities and how sensitive people become attached to them. 

This book is a bit much for those of us who are highly sensitive and living in normal relationships. The author deals with highly troubled situations, including those in which the highly sensitive person is physically threatened with bodily injury by a manipulative person. For those sensitive people looking for tips on dealing with manipulative people in more normal situations, this book will have some useful tips as well.

Based on the title, I was hoping to find some useful information on how to handle toxic people.  What I found was a lot of information about narcissists and sociopaths --  very toxic people.  This is still good information for those who have found themselves in very dysfunctional relationships, but it was not exactly what I was expecting.  I was hoping for more practical advice on how to handle toxic people in everyday situations when it is necessary.

This book is excellent and packed full of information. My only criticism is so much of the focus is on narcissists and malignant individuals, that I felt they overshadowed the HSP discussion to some extent. Having said that, if you are a sensitive person who is healing from narcissist or toxic people abuse, this book is absolutely worth the read. There may be some eye- opening information here that causes a needed shift in thinking and behaviors that will allow you to unhook from toxic people without feeling guilty or insecure about not being able to “fix” the person or the relationship.  It will help you identify tactics designed to play on your empathy and the sense of insecurity you may feel when things are not harmonious. It provides a great deal of social intelligence to balance out HSPs beautifully sensitive personality traits. HSPs will find the journaling exercises helpful and thought-provoking.

While the advice about dealing with toxic behaviors was solid if unoriginal, I found the focus on HSP cognitive distortions to be confusing and at times troubling. I assume my complete lack of connection with these portions of the book indicate that I am not a highly sensitive person myself, so perhaps other people who identify as HSPs would be better arbitrators of this work.

This book was received as an ARC from New Harbinger Publications, Inc. in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was awaiting the release of this book after reading the highly sensitive person and this is a huge obstacle for a lot of our community including me. The book was very insightful and Shahida Arabi touched on a lot of breaking points that hit me so hard that I started to cry and realize how hard this was hurting. The book really opened my eyes to the possibilities once all the points have been defeated and this will definitely be valued throughout the rest of my life. I know this will circulate very well and have a great home in our Self-Help collection.

We will definitely consider adding this title to our Self-Help collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

In "The Highly Sensitive Person's Guide to Dealing with Toxic People" Shahidi Arabi provides a step by step guide to do exactly that. She begins by differentiating a highly sensitive person (HSP) and an empath. While both bear several similarities ( highly tuned senses, strong intuitive abilities, and can need time alone to decompress),  an HSP processes more information about the world around them than others do.  Therefore, they are more likely to be taken advantage of especially by narcissists and psychopaths who are at the end of the same emotional spectrum.

Arabi does a wonderful job of breaking down common tactics used by toxic people like stonewalling,  gaslighting and addressing various cognitive distortions that HSP go through. She then provides relatable explanations and advises using easy to remember acronyms throughout.  One thing that stands out is that she heavily advocates for the journaling practice as a means of self-reflection and also to document one's feelings for future reference.

I believe that this is not only for HSPs but everyone who values mental and emotional health. Because let's face at one point or the other we have exhibited (or will exhibit) some form of toxic behaviour.

I felt like this book title would have been better as "A Dummies Guide to HSP and how to deal with Toxic People".  It was very basic information, and to be honest..the over use of acronyms was extremely annoying after like the 10th time it was done.  I didn't learn anything from this book that I couldn't have found on the internet with a thorough google search.  A good book for someone who is new to learning about Toxic people and HSP.  Otherwise kind of a drag to read.

This book is a must-read for those dealing with toxic people -especially with the current world scenario, being locked-in with a toxic person can have adverse effects on mental health. I really liked the detailed explanations, the questionnaires and ways to deal with toxic behaviour. This book is an eye-opener for HSPs and empaths.

This book was so helpful!  I found myself highlighting many passages for future reference.  The book is simply written and easy to understand.  I consider myself to be very sensitive and often feel guilt in relationships with others.  The book talks about different toxic personalities including:  boundary steppers, attention seekers, emotional vampires, sociopaths, psychopaths, and narcissists.  I found the suggestions for dealing with these kind of people very practical.

An empowering guide to self-advocacy for the Highly Sensitive Person struggling with a toxic relationship. Journal prompts allow the reader to reflect and implement self-care practices for meaningful change.

Personally, I've read a decent amount of "dealing with toxic people" books. This one stands out because it explains the actual neuroscience of why we put up with toxic behavior in the first place. It explains both how we get out of toxic relationships, but also how we got into them in the first place. The other element that helps this book stand out is the focus on a Highly Sensitive victim, who will struggle even more with escaping from the toxic relationships in their life. Rather than focusing on the negative impact their sensitivity has on their interpersonal skills, the book flips these traits on their head and explains how High Sensitivity is a great tool for identifying toxic people in the first place. 

There is a lot of reassuring information both in facts and in recommendations for moving forward. It also strikes a good balance between anecdotal and scientific information. Offering one or two examples of the different kinds of toxic people, as well as the ways Highly Sensitive People are affected by them, makes the situations easier to understand, and harder to dismiss if the reader has experienced similar situations in real life.

The book does lean on acronyms a little too much for my taste. The acronyms are long and the explanation for each letter is also long, which makes them difficult to remember. Some of the advice gets repetitive, like offering yoga and meditation as a solution in multiple places in the book. I think this could be cleaned up by leaving footnotes or references to the final chapter (Refuge and Recover: Healing Modalities for HSPs) instead. I would also like the book to recommend working with a professional earlier on, especially considering it offers journaling exercises that could be triggering, or cause more problems if the entries are found by the reader's toxic partner/family member, etc. 

Overall this was a good addition to the genre of Dealing with Toxic People. Highly Sensitive People are so often targeted not just by toxic people, but as doormats or scapegoats for others. To let them know that this is not only normal, but not acceptable, is so important. This book is a good place for them to begin or continue their road to healthier relationships.

This book was just what I needed to read- it was all about how to deal with toxic people. Specifically if you are a highly sensitive person (hsp)  as those types of personalities are highly drawn to those with toxic personalities and those with toxic personalities gravitate towards HSPs.  The book touches on relationships with parents, family members and co-workers- it does not focus solely on an intimate relationship or significant other.  Often times the most toxic people in our lives can be our own parents and family members, so it was nice to read a book that addresses that.  The book provided a lot of advice of how to handle a toxic person as well as  ending communication with a toxic person.  I loved all the different examples and scenarios, that was helpful.  This book also provided Journaling and self reflection moments that were workbook like: I found that to be extremely helpful! If you are or know a highly sensitive person or a toxic person, this book is for you. It is filled with so much insight and explanations- there is a science behind your level of sensitivity!

This book is a practical and helpful guide for anyone who is negatively affected by toxic people in their lives.. The author  discusses specific types of toxic personalities and behaviors ranging from narcissistic to attention seeking to downright psychopathic. The book offers practical guidance and anyone  that is concerned about toxic relationships will  benefit from reviewing this material. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.