Michelle Roberts, PhD

Michelle Roberts is a journalist, psychotherapist, and professor who helps women discover how past trauma influences their current relationships. 

 She has studied relational trauma for the past 25 years, first as an award-winning journalist and now as one of the nation’s leading researchers and clinicians focused on the modern epidemic of narcissistic abuse. Her seminal research illustrates the stark correlation between romantic involvement with a dark personality and a woman’s early-life experiences.

Michelle completed her doctorate in clinical mental health counseling at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, where she also teaches psychopathology and diagnosis as adjunct faculty. She holds master’s degrees in education from UMSL and journalism from Northwestern University.

In addition to her journalism career, Michelle served as the executive director of Bravely, a residential program for women with histories of trauma and addiction leaving the sex traffic. She was a founding director of one of the nation’s first non-profits dedicated to health literacy, and author of several books designed to help people manage their mental health for the Institute for Healthcare Advancement in Irvine, Calif. 

Michelle holds a license to practice psychotherapy in Missouri and Oregon. She serves as a contributor on the Oxygen network’s Mastermind of Murder, where she provides insight on dark personalities. Her research on empathy has been presented multiple times at the American Psychological Association.

  • PhD, University of Missouri, St. Louis, Clinical Mental Health Counseling​​​

    MEd, University of Missouri, St. Louis, Clinical Mental Health Counseling​​​

    MSJ, Northwestern University, Journalism

    BA, Arizona State University, Journalism

  • As an investigative reporter at The Oregonian in Portland, Michelle was chosen by former First Lady Rosalyn Carter as a journalism fellow. She used the platform to reveal longstanding abuse and inhumane practices at Oregon’s 145-year-old psychiatric hospital, famous as the set of the 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.The state closed the hospital, and Oregonian editorials earned the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing based on her investigation. In 2007, she shared the Oregonian’s Pulitzer Prize for breaking news.

    Her work has also been awarded by:

    — The Annie E. Casey Foundation

    — The Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, which recognizes exemplary journalism about the impact of violence, crime, disaster and other traumatic events on individuals, families and communities

    — The National Mental Health Association

    — The National Alliance on Mental Illness

  • Michelle’s academic study coincided with new examinations into the modern social epidemic of narcissistic abuse and its overlooked abuse, trauma, and betrayal. As she crafted the research for her dissertation, she identified a significant chasm in the subject: Personality traits and early-life trauma histories of women who enter into relationships with these men. Her results broke ground in identifying these women: They scored four times higher for the presence of childhood trauma. Nearly three out of four participants met the clinical criteria for complex post-traumatic stress disorder or C-PTSD. But almost none had been diagnosed with this severe form, opening up new avenues for effective treatment.

  • Michelle teaches psychopathology and diagnosis as adjunct faculty at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

    Michelle also serves as a contributor on the Oxygen network’s Mastermind of Murder, where she provides insight on dark personalities.

 As seen on

“To heal the wound, you have to go into the dark night of the soul.”

— TORI AMOS