Traitor Within’s Journey Toward Fiction
by Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW
Almost twenty years ago, I sat down to write a book about attachment theory. I wanted to draw on pieces of my own story to show how the attachment style and coping mechanisms we form in childhood go on to shape our adult relationships, how we see ourselves, and how we see the world. As I wrote, I realized what I had was closer to an academic piece: something that might show up in a graduate seminar, or on a therapist's bookshelf, but not something the average person would ever pick up. I wanted to reach as many people as I was able.
As a psychotherapist, I loved my work. But I could only sit across from one person, or one small group, at a time. After nearly two decades — watching the same patterns surface again and again, I kept coming back to the same question: how many more people could this reach?
So I started writing, then rewriting, again and again, trying over the years to find the form that would truly resonate. Eventually, the book became fiction. Fiction can do what clinical language often cannot: it does not define you or explain you from the outside. It does not sit across from you and say, “You do this because of that.” Instead, it offers a story and lets you recognize yourself within it, on your own terms and at your own pace.
It's a safe way to engage with difficult and painful issues — abuse, deception, trust, self-abandonment, self-sabotage, and so much more — without having to live them yourself. Following someone’s story builds a kind of critical thinking and self-exploration that a lecture never quite reaches, because you're doing the work of understanding alongside them rather than being told what to conclude. Sometimes we can't see something clearly while we're standing inside it, but we can see it through someone else's story. My hope is that readers feel compassion for Cassandra as they follow her, and that some of that compassion turns back toward themselves — and that in seeing her more clearly, they see the people around them a little more clearly too.
Traitor Within follows Cassandra through relationships and moments that, on the surface, are simply her story. But underneath, I built it as a self-help book in disguise. I wanted readers to see pieces of themselves in Cassandra's journey — and pieces of the people around them, too — and to arrive at their own recognitions instead of being handed mine. I chose fiction because a story can meet someone emotionally without ever making them feel diagnosed. I chose fiction because it will reach many more people than a self-help book. I chose fiction because the book is a psychological thriller and you go on emotional roller-coaster ride which will hopefully entertain you.
Before You Go: Pre-Order Traitor Within
My debut novel, Traitor Within: How Her Fear of Abandonment Led Her to Abandon Herself, releases September 22 and is available for pre-order now. Through Casandra’s story, I explore many of the themes I write about here: childhood protective patterns, trauma bonds, narcissistic relationships, fear of abandonment, self-abandonment, and the work of learning to trust yourself again.
As a thank-you for pre-ordering, you’ll also receive a full year of guided Your Traitor Within journaling prompts to use for reflection and alongside your own healing work.
Pre-order Traitor Within here:
https://www.jessicaannepressler.com/the-books
About the Author
Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker who has been a psychotherapist for nearly 40 years. She developed the "Traitor Within" framework to help people name and understand the repetitive self-sabotage that shows up in their adult lives. She is the host of the podcast Your Traitor Within, author of Your Traitor Within: A Year of Journaling Prompts for Healing and Empowerment, and author of her debut novel, Traitor Within — How Her Fear of Abandonment Led Her to Abandon Herself.
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