Narcissists
I’ve noticed quite a bit of hits from keywords referring to abuse. This is, unfortunately, a common problem, and people need to find help.
There are also many hits from keywords referring to narcissistic or borderline personality disorders, disorders which often lead to abusive behaviors.
So I will make a series of posts from my webpage on abuse, which gathers together links I have found most helpful. I have them arranged by category.
The first part is on the general topic of abuse. The last section of the webpage, my own personal abuse stories, has already been posted here.
From my page Abuse in all its forms: My Thoughts, Quotes and Links to help:
Narcissists
Articles on Narcissistic Personality Disorder
The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement–FAQ
Narcissistic Rage and Narcissist Injury by Sam Vaknin (video); quote:
Raging narcissists usually perceive their reaction to have been triggered by an intentional provocation with a hostile purpose. Their targets, on the other hand, invariably regard raging narcissists as incoherent, unjust, and arbitrary.
Manipulation Tactics of Narcissists
More Red Flags: History of Past Upheavals & Hated for Mysterious Reasons
Exposing the Narcissist, Dealing with Blowback, and Guilt
video on abuse and jealousy by an abuser to one’s spouse, family
This is a documentary on Sam Vaknin, who posts so much on the Internet about narcissism. He himself is a narcissist and/or psychopath, letting us into the mind of a narcissist through his website and book, Malignant Self-Love–though, of course, you have to wonder if he’s not trying to fool you somehow even with that.
Still, just as with interviewing a serial killer for why he did what he did, this self-expression from a narcissist or psychopath is very helpful and revealing in a way that a normal person just wouldn’t be able to “get.”
At my lowest point I couldn’t eat or sleep. I couldn’t go to work or socialize with people. My friends and family couldn’t understand the depth of the pain I was in and thought I should just “snap out of it” or “get over it!”
I would have loved to be able to just “get over it!” But this was one of the most difficult challenges life had brought my way….
It wasn’t until one of my few friends I had left referred me to a psychiatrist who believed I had been in a relationship with a narcissist, that my desolate world began to have meaning.
I could finally at least understand why I was feeling the way I was. I finally had somewhere to go with this. I finally understood that I was not crazy as I had come to believe I was!
…Recovering from narcissistic abuse is a journey. It is a path back to the self. Those who have been abused by narcissism have slowly lost themselves. They have given pieces of themselves away bit by bit until there was nothing left to give.
It is usually at the moment of ones greatest sense of depletion that the victim experiences the horrible devaluation and discarding by the narcissist in their lives….
Most victims, which I chose to call “survivors,” or “thrivers” find themselves at their all time lowest lows once the relationship ends….
You would think that when the relationship officially ends, would be a time where victims can get their energy back and get on with their lives. But it never quite looks like this.
Instead one ends up feeling as if she has been kicked almost to the point of death and left to die in her own pool of blood while the one who has kicked her goes off to live happily ever after with someone who is young, beautiful and full of life.
As survivors we struggle to stay alive and although we know the narcissist is NOT good for us, we become obsessed with him. He becomes our link to life and to our sanity. –Kaleah LaRoche, http://www.narcissismfree.com/
For every spouse abused by a narcissist, there are several children of narcissists abused by them. And, in most situations, the narcissist has had the power to get co-workers fired and/or to destroy careers, so the narcissist also leaves a trail of these victims in his or her truculent wake through life.
And then there are the friends. People who once were friends of the narcissist and all of a sudden one day found their guts hanging out in a narc attack, to be left wondering forever afterwards what they did to make the narcissist so mad that he or she ripped them to shreds and refused to see or have any contact with them anymore….
Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever had a friend who suddenly blew up at you one day and spoke just viciously, tearing you to shreds, to the point of tears, and then refused to see or talk to you again? Still bewildered by it? If so, stop wondering what you did….
This is one of the most difficult facts to face about malignant narcissists: they are predators. They need no reason to attack: they need a reason NOT to attack.
Therefore, when it’s the last time they’re going to see you, there is no longer a reason not to attack you. There won’t be any adverse consequences.
So they attack just because this is a golden opportunity to dump a load of projection and projective identification on someone. It’s a golden opportunity to feel powerful by having a powerful effect on someone.
They feel great afterwards. They not only relieve their moral constipation by dumping their load on you, they get high off the power rush in trampling you or tearing you to pieces. And what’s to restrain those urges? Any morals? Any conscience?
So, if this has ever happened to you, you probably just had a close encounter with a malignant narcissist. Be glad that you had to serve as her toilet only once in your life. –Kathy Krajco, The Rewards of Befriending a Narcissist
(Lots of good stuff in the comments section, too, such as, “The best thing though is to keep telling the truth. Stick with those who believe you and for those who don’t leave them to their fate with the N.”)
The following blog is also very familiar, especially the part about others not understanding why you don’t just “move on” when it’s “already been a year!”: Laura Kamienski, Finding New Pieces When You Can’t Pick Up the Old Ones
—Abuse Specifically Against Husbands/Boyfriends
—Borderline Personality Disorder
—Getting into the Psyche of the Abuser
—If You’ve Been Reported to CPS
—Stopping Abuse/ Helping Abused Friend, Family Member, Co-worker, Child
—Toxic Friendships/Relationships