Category: Understanding Narcissistic Abuse

I previously offered an explanation for why narcissists engage in their abusive behavior, or, more specifically, what narcissists get out of it. For the sake of continuity, I’ll summarize it here. In short, they are incapable of getting their social needs met through traditional means because of the nature of their personality disorder, but their personality disorder enables them to engage in harmful, dysfunctional behaviors to get them met. The behaviors they use alienate them from others and lead to further exclusion from traditional processes, so it’s a self-reinforcing cycle. So what are these harmful, dysfunctional behaviors that are so alienating, and...

From fairy tales to classic literature to legends and lore, I have noticed that the same metaphors keep coming up to explain narcissistic traits both formally and informally– in the jargon on narcissism, in the literature for survivors, and across the forums and the Internet.  It’s not surprising that stories are being used to help explain narcissistic traits. Narcissistic abuse can have the disjointed feel of dreams and nightmares when you try to put words to it. Its largely psychological terrain primes it for allegorical comparisons that can be made through familiar and nearly universal stories to illuminate what feels...