Can I be blunt for a moment? There are myths about narcissism floating around out there that could keep you stuck for years.
Here’s why…
Much of the material on the internet about narcissistic behaviors is totally pointless.
It’s mostly rehashed information that’s often inaccurate, biased, and completely useless if you’re truly serious about moving on and healing from narcissistic abuse. Here’s how I know:
Over the past ten years, I’ve personally recovered from narcissistic abuse, Stockholm syndrome, and C-PTSD. I’ve performed hundreds of hours of research, bounced ideas off numerous healers and therapists, and worked with several hundred coaching clients from many backgrounds and religions.
I’ve learned firsthand what matters and what doesn’t when it comes to researching narcissistic behaviors and how they influence one’s recovery from this kind of abuse.
And lots of the information out there just doesn’t matter.
In particular, there are three myths about narcissism that really disturb me. If you’re struggling to break free from a toxic relationship or to heal after leaving a narcissist, perhaps you’ve bought into one or more of these myths that, in the end, mean nothing in the big scheme of things.
3 Myths About Narcissism to Put to Rest
Myth #1 – It’s important to know what kind of narcissist you’re dealing with
Sure, it might help to know what kind of manipulator you’ve been involved with. It’s useful to be able to validate your experiences and finally understand why your partner, friend, or family member behaves the way they do. But, people tend to put far too much focus on “what kind of narcissist” these people might be.
Ultimately, knowing whether a person is overt or covert, somatic or cerebral, altruistic or malignant, etc., might satisfy one’s intellectual curiosity, but continuing to perform painstaking research into the subject and substantiating a person’s behaviors and traits to make sure they fit into a particular category is a waste of time.
Why? Narcissism is part of the Dark Triad, right next to psychopaths. You could be dealing with a narcissist who has antisocial traits, or you could be dealing with a narcissist who has psychopathic traits. This why is why it’s often difficult to determine exactly which category they fall into because they don’t only fall into one. When you put them all together, you have a very dangerous individual.
Further, knowing this information does nothing to erase the abuse or to change the outcome of the relationship.
After a time, you are re-reading information you already know. But more importantly, it keeps the obsession about the abuse alive in your subconscious mind and deepens the negative neural pathways that formed throughout your past with your abuser. It’s a form of rumination, which makes it harder to develop new thought patterns that will empower and heal you.
What you focus on the most is what influences your day-to-day reality. This partly explains why people who’ve been out of an abusive relationship with a narcissist for years remain stuck in their pain, unable to move forward in any meaningful way…they have continued reading about narcissism far beyond what’s helpful. In fact, obsessive research into narcissism actually feeds the trauma bond, making it difficult to heal and move forward.
What matters instead: In place of doing more research into the types and sub-types of narcissism, research ways you can implement healthy boundaries in your relationships and begin forming new, self-loving habits. Believing you can find emotional fulfillment in another person is an illusion. The only path to true happiness begins with learning to stop self-sabotaging behaviors, staying true to your values, and treating yourself like you would treat someone you care for.
Myth #2 – It matters whether someone was born a narcissist or developed narcissistic traits as a young child due to environmental factors
The nature vs. nurture debate has been around for decades. There is definitely scientific value in studying human behavior regarding innate personality traits versus those a person develops due to environmental factors.
It’s important to realize, however, that by the time an individual has matured into an adult, their personality traits have become a permanent part of who they are. That’s not to say that a person cannot change and develop more empowering, healthy behaviors. But, for that to happen, they must first become aware that their behaviors are dysfunctional to themselves and to others and then commit to doing something about it because they give a care.
A person who is trauma-bonded or has developed Stockholm syndrome has a good chance of developing healthier behaviors and thought patterns. People with these conditions are more prone towards self-reflection and the desire to change their lives for the better. They are more likely to visualize a better future for themselves and the people they love and study ways in which they can improve their lives and relationships. The main reason for this is that the people narcissists zero in on typically possess high levels of empathy. Narcissists do not.
Narcissists, in general, are stuck in a state of arrested development. They are mostly about how they feel in the moment, which explains their erratic behaviors. They generally don’t’ reflect on the future or ways they can improve themselves to be better partners or friends. What they do reflect on is how they can better manipulate people in order to fulfill their selfish agendas. Therefore, whether they were born a narcissist or developed narcissistic traits as a child is mostly irrelevant.
What matters instead: To determine whether a person was born with narcissistic traits or developed them as a young child, we’d need access to brain scans and life-long, scientific data that’s been gathered over a person’s lifetime. Since these are generally not available to us, we are pressed to base our decisions on who the person is before us today. The person they are today is someone who has been abusing and manipulating people for years. We must look at how the relationship is affecting us (and our children) and decide if it’s worth it to continue despite the psychological damage it’s doing to us, our children, and any other family members involved.
The old paradigm of “toughing it out” or “staying together for the children’s sake” is no longer useful to us as individuals, families, or as a global community. Part of the reason we have so many problems with depression, narcissism, codependency, and dysfunction is that the generations before us held these convictions, regardless of whether it was the right thing to do. That’s not to say we should abandon people who truly need our help, but when it comes to relationships with narcissists, it’s crucial to be cognizant of the fact that these individuals will take your help, give none in return (unless it will benefit them), and destroy the lives of you and your children if you remain in the relationship.
Is that a risk you’re willing to take? And if so, why? These are the questions that should be analyzed instead of how a person became narcissistic.
Myth #3 – It’s necessary to label someone a narcissist in order to take the next steps in your life
The search terms ‘Am I With a Narcissist’ are among the most popular in the area of narcissism. It’s also one of the most common questions I am asked by clients and followers. And with good reason, by the time one starts researching why a partner or other loved one is so cruel, they’ve experienced abuse and manipulation that has begun to affect their lives in a negative way.
Where one gets stuck, however, is believing it’s absolutely necessary to label someone a narcissist, which is only possible by having the person in question take a battery of psychological assessments. Even then, if faced with the certainty that a partner or loved one is a narcissist, most people won’t leave the relationship right away, or even at all. I can relate because I was involved with a narcissistic individual for over ten years. Of course, I didn’t know about narcissism back then. What I did recognize was that I tolerated:
- Lying
- Financial abuse
- Broken promises
- Verbal abuse
- Sabotaging of my career
- Isolation from my friends and family
- Being told that I deserved every bad thing in my life
- Being called a whore on the day of my grandmother’s funeral
- Ironically, being called a whore the day my grandfather died, too
- Developing depression due to feelings of helplessness
…and many other forms of abuse that we now know are carried out by individuals with narcissistic traits.
Like many other targets of emotional abuse, I researched all the possible reasons my ex behaved the way he did. I tried to find ways I could reach his “wounded inner child” and dedicated myself to being submissive and forgiving. I allowed him to do whatever he wanted and tolerated weekly silent treatments.
In other words, I engaged in all the self-sabotaging, self-defeating behaviors which I’ve since learned are indicative of trauma bonding and Stockholm syndrome. Therefore, it didn’t matter whether my ex was a narcissist or not.
What matters instead: It doesn’t matter whether we can label someone a narcissist. What matters is why we stay in relationships with individuals who strive to destroy our self-esteem…who lie, cheat, smear our character to anyone who will listen, and pull the rug out from under our feet on a regular basis.
We need to reflect on why we permit someone to trample our boundaries and break our deal-breakers, normalizing the abuse to the extent that when we explain our experiences to someone else, the words coming out of our mouths sound foreign to us because we can hardly believe we’ve tolerated such mistreatment.
Ultimately, we need to recognize when we are falling prey to myths about narcissism. If we find ourselves in relationships with abusers, liars, and cheaters, it’s not our job to change them. Our job is to change the beliefs we have about ourselves and about life that have caused us to tolerate such a situation.
Our job is to leave so we can heal our wounded belief systems, become the best version of ourselves, and live the lives we deserve.
If this describes your relationship, you are dealing with a narcissistic individual, and you’ll need to get to a point where you decide whether you’re going to stay and get more of the same, or if you’re going to take the steps to take your power back and reclaim your life.
Recovering from narcissistic abuse is hard, and it’s okay to admit you need help. If you’re ready to go deeper NOW, check out the #1 therapist-approved online program for narcissistic abuse recovery. Thousands of people have benefited from this program that’s practical, proven, and reliable. It’s the best place to begin a journey toward renewed self-worth and an end to feeling worthless.
