I want to thank Mental Health News radio show host Kristin Sunanta Walker and therapist Melanie Vann for having me on their recent show to talk about my new book, Becoming the Narcissist’s Nightmare: How to Devalue and Discard the Narcissist While Supplying Yourself.
Mental Health News radio is an amazing platform that has reached so many people and has connected intriguing, diverse perspectives on important topics in the mental health community, including narcissistic abuse. It was an honor to be able to contribute to the dialogue on narcissism and narcissistic abuse and join their incredible line-up of speakers, psychologists, authors, survivors and advocates.
You can listen to the show here and read the entire associated blog entry of the interview on their website here.
“We’ve enjoyed reading the Kindle Best Seller, The Smart Girl’s Guide to Self-Care by author and advocate Shahida Arabi. Her social media presence and blogs are an informative tribute empowering women of all ages and stages of recovery. Join us for an in-depth conversation about healing our addiction to narcissists. ”
QUESTIONS COVERED IN THE INTERVIEW:
What is your second book on narcissistic abuse about? How will it help victims recognize the signs of narcissistic abuse and heal?
How does a person become narcissistic?
Why do we gravitate towards narcissists? Is there such a thing as chronic victimization – a person who can have relationships with multiple narcissists and be primed to get into yet another one? How do we prevent that pattern?
Why do people stay so long in abusive relationships with narcissistic or antisocial personalities? Are victims to blame for narcissistic abuse?
Is there a difference between Narcissistic Personality Disorder and another cluster B disorder such as Borderline Personality Disorder?
What tools can I use to detach and heal from a narcissist?
Why do Narcissists come back and try to contact you even after the relationship has ended?
What if the narcissist is the one who is “addicted” to something – is there a difference between a substance abuser who is emotionally abusive when using and a narcissistic abuser?
What should survivors do with their experiences of narcissistic abuse?
Questions and answers written by our guest Shahida Arabi:
What is your second book on narcissistic abuse about? How will it help victims recognize the signs of narcissistic abuse and heal?
I am currently working on a second book called Becoming the Narcissist’s Nightmare: How to Devalue and Discard the Narcissist While Supplying Yourself. This book will cover the red flags of narcissistic behavior which can very covert and underhanded, our addiction to the narcissist as well as how to detach and heal from narcissistic abuse, especially if you’ve been involved with more than one narcissist or were raised by a narcissistic parent, which means you were primed for this type of abuse. Narcissistic abuse can be very difficult for people who have never been through it to understand, which is why it’s important to talk about the actual behaviors involved in this type of abuse as well as its effects on the victim.
Full-fledged narcissists, those who meet the diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, display arrogant, haughty behaviors and a depraved sense of entitlement. They are highly inter-personally exploitative and manipulative, prone to using people for their own personal gain or agenda. Most importantly, they lack the ability to empathize with others – which make them toxic relationship partners in the long-run.
While the DSM-5 has helpful information on the characteristics of a narcissist, it does not explore the actual behaviors that narcissists display within relationships – abusive behaviors such as: being overly critical towards their partners, covertly and overtly putting them down with different forms of verbal abuse, controlling every aspect of their partner’s life, stonewalling their victims into silence, triangulating them with other love interests, gas-lighting them into believing the abuse isn’t real, subjecting their victim to smear campaigns, projecting their malignant traits onto their partners and using a false charismatic self to make their victims look like the “crazy” ones.
This is what narcissistic abuse looks like – and unfortunately, the full extent of narcissistic abuse is not taught in any psychology class or diagnostic manual. I was actually taking a graduate-level Adult Personality and Psychopathology class when I first learned the DSM definition of Narcissistic Personality Disorder – yet I still had no idea I was at the time with a narcissistic abuser. It was only by reading more about narcissistic abuse, the literature on it as well as accounts from survivors themselves, that I learned about the complex dynamics involved between abuser and victim.
It is truly a narcissist’s malignant behaviors and how they affect us that are the key to understanding if your partner is a narcissist. The narcissistic abuser can lead survivors to feel depressed, suicidal, anxious, constantly on edge and worthless. If your partner displays these types of toxic behaviors, at the very least, they are emotionally, verbally and psychologically abusive. While malignant narcissists are certainly very dangerous, partners who display even some of these behaviors and refuse to change do not need the diagnosis of NPD in order for victims to recognize they have a toxic relationship partner.
Currently, the best sources of rich information on narcissistic abuse are the voices of survivors as well as mental health professionals who have either experienced narcissistic abuse themselves or who have worked extensively with abuse victims or abusers as clients – these are the people who are on the front line and can better articulate the complex dynamics of this type of relationship as well as the motives of these disordered personalities.
This is why I am currently working on a second book that is specifically about the dynamics of narcissistic abuse that is not taught in classrooms – including the psychological trauma and biochemical bonds we develop with narcissistic abusers and the trauma reenactment that is involved if we grow up with a narcissistic abuser as a parent or family member, conditioned to accept this type of covert abuse.
This book will provide survivors an extensive look into narcissistic abuse, including our addiction to the narcissist and why it is so difficult to extricate yourself from an abusive partner whose methods are often covert and underhanded. It will offer tools to begin to detach and heal from the narcissist or the narcissists we’ve encountered throughout our lifetime, especially if we have a pattern of being with more than one narcissistic partner.
I wanted to write this book to bridge the gap between the scientific research on this disorder and survivor accounts by incorporating the work of psychologists, popular bloggers and authors on the topic of narcissism, my personal experiences as well as thousands of survivor accounts and feedback I’ve gotten from my coaching program, surveys, as well as on my blog and social media platforms. It is my hope that this book will help survivors transcend the abuse they’ve experienced, channel their experiences into the greater good and become advocates for their own self-care.
How does a person become narcissistic?
There are many different theories as to how a person develops this disorder. Some psychologists theorize that the narcissist suffered a severe trauma in childhood – what they call a “narcissistic wound.” This may have been caused by a cold, unempathic parent which caused the narcissist to associate his or her identity with an area of success his or her parents valued such as looks, intellectual ability or another talent, in place of healthy self-esteem and self-acceptance.
Other theories posit that a pattern of overvaluation by a parent leads to arrested emotional development, causing a child to develop a sense of grandiosity that vacillates between feelings of worthlessness and a hyperinflated ego – in other words, narcissism. This is because the narcissistic child is overvalued as “perfect” and this type of feedback is not balanced with realistic feedback.
There is also a biological and neurological standpoint that focuses mainly on how a narcissist’s brain has structural abnormalities related to compassion (Schulze et. al, 2013). Narcissists may have suffered something traumatic when they were a child – perhaps an over-idealization by an adult that made them want to remain like a child forever without any consequences, or devaluation and neglect. They may have even been raised by someone who was narcissistic. Or, they may be born with the disorder.
While each theory is compelling, clinicians are not absolutely certain as to what causes NPD. In my opinion, psychopathology is often caused by an interaction between biological predisposition and environment. There are also multicultural components which can make certain disorders more likely than others in certain countries or manifest differently across various contexts. The interactions between environment and biological predisposition can act as a protective factor orrisk factor to prevent or exacerbate certain disorders in individuals who do have a biological predisposition. Factors such as a strong support network, access to therapy/medication, upbringing, religious beliefs, media, as well as other exacerbating experiences outside of the family unit like bullying, sexual assault, witnessing violence, or other traumas can all interfere or strengthen that predisposition towards pathology.
What survivors can be certain of is that being with a partner with NPD can be extremely dangerous due to their lack of empathy and tendency to be exploitive. If you enter a relationship with a narcissist, beware: the false self is often so charming and so different from the true self that you may fall prey to a vicious cycle of narcissistic abuse that can be very difficult to extricate yourself from. A relationship with a narcissist often contains some degree of psychological, emotional and in some cases, physical and sexual violence depending on where the narcissistic person falls on the spectrum.
Why do we gravitate towards narcissists? Is there such a thing as chronic victimization – a person who can have relationships with multiple narcissists and be primed to get into yet another one? How do we prevent that pattern?
We are drawn to narcissists because they tend to be charismatic and charming. Their false self is usually constructed of the very traits and characteristics we’ve been longing for – the love, validation and respect we may have longed for in our childhood but never received. A recent study by Haslam and Montrose (2015) showed that women who are looking for a marital partner, even if they had previous experience with narcissistic types, actually preferred narcissistic partners over non-narcissistic ones. Narcissists deliberately mirror and mimic our deepest desires and values, which makes them incredibly convincing and tempting to us. Narcissists also have a devil-may-care attitude that draws us in because they seem unfazed by anything – that’s because they aren’t.
It’s important to remember that their false self is often the self we fall for – the true self of a narcissist does not unravel until they have hooked us into the relationship, so it is very difficult to ascertain that there may be any pathology present until we’ve invested in the relationship. By that time, their hot and cold tactics (also known as intermittent reinforcement) begin to take hold of us, creating psychological and biochemical bonds that inevitably keep us attached.
Unfortunately, many of us can be “primed” for narcissistic abuse due to the subconscious programming instilled in us from childhood – this can cause victimization by multiple narcissists throughout our lifetime, starting with experiencing narcissistic abuse in childhood. Research shows that those who witness domestic violence are more likely to become victims or perpetrators themselves. Dr. Bruce Lipton talks about subconscious programming in his book The Biology of Belief (2007), in which he discusses an incredible study where a fetus on a sonogram began visibly responding to a fight between father and mother. Yes, programming can start as early as in the mother’s womb! Imagine how traumatizing it must be for a child, if the only models of love they receive in their childhood, are models based on codependency (or as Ross Rosenberg calls it, Self-Love Deficit Disorder), abuse and disrespect. Trauma can have a significant impact on early brain development, interpersonal effectiveness and emotional regulation.
A large majority of our behavior is subconsciously driven – which means we ourselves may not even know the reasons for why we’re addicted to the narcissist until we dig deeper into trauma from adolescence, childhood or even adulthood – trauma can happen at any time but most especially, it can rewire our brain significantly in childhood. If we’ve witnessed domestic violence or experienced any type of abuse or bullying that traumatized us, we are more susceptible to becoming attached to narcissistic partners in the attempt to resolve the trauma – this is what Dr. Gary Reece calls “trauma repetition” or “trauma reenactment.”
For those of us who have a pattern of being with multiple narcissistic partners throughout our lifetime, it’s important for us to look at the root of the original trauma – whether it was in childhood, adolescence or even young adulthood. There is something within us that needs to be healed in order to break this reenactment. Being with multiple narcissists is what I call “trauma upon trauma.” We hide one trauma with another – we go from one narcissist straight into the arms of another – which makes it very difficult to step back and break the pattern, because we don’t cease the pattern long enough to reevaluate and disrupt it.
Why do people stay so long in abusive relationships with narcissistic or antisocial personalities? Are victims to blame for narcissistic abuse?
I talk about this topic at length in my upcoming book on narcissism. Victims are not to blame for staying in abusive relationships. There are many reasons why they stay longer than they should and each victim has his or her own unique circumstances. Contrary to the victim-blaming discourse that dominates our society, recovery from an abusive relationship can be very similar to withdrawal from drug addiction due to the biochemical and psychological bonds we develop with our abusers.
What many people don’t understand is that our own brain chemistry can lock us into this addiction to the narcissistic or sociopathic partner. Dopamine, cortisol, adrenaline and oxytocin are all implicated in what I like to call the “biochemical bond from hell.”
This biochemical bond is even stronger because of the traumatic highs and lows of the relationship. The same neurotransmitter that is responsible for cocaine addiction – dopamine – is the same one responsible for our addiction to dangerous romantic partners.
Imagine this: the intense pleasurable moments of the honeymoon period of a relationship release dopamine and create reward circuits in the brain, essentially telling us to go back to our toxic partners and relive the pleasurable memories. Intermittent reinforcement of positive behaviors dispersed throughout the abuse cycle (e.g. gifts, flowers, compliments, sex) only strengthens this bond. In fact, in “Bad Boys, Bad Brains,” Dr. Susan Carnell notes that intermittent reinforcement of rewards actually enables dopamine to flow more readily, which strengthens the reward circuit associated with this toxic relationship in our brain.
Then we have our sexual relationship with the narcissistic partner, often described by survivors as one of the most intense and sexually charged experiences of their lives. Narcissists mirror our deepest sexual and emotional desires, which makes for an electrifying sexual chemistry with them. Oxytocin is released whenever we physically interact with our abuser, promoting attachment and trust. This is the same “love” hormone that bonds mother and child at birth, ensuring that we “bond” with the abuser even after experiencing incidents of abuse. In fact, narcissistic abusers tend to merge abusive incidents with displays of affection and seduction precisely to create this sort of chaos in our bodies and minds.
At this time, the cortisol levels in our body are going haywire due to the stress from the abuse, trapping chronic stress within our bodies. Yet they are lowered once we are comforted and soothed by our narcissistic partner’s apologies and sweet-talking – which conditions us to go back to our narcissistic partners as a source of healing, even if they are simultaneously the source of the abuse.
Then there’s the adrenaline rush we get from the unpredictability of the narcissist’s intermittent reinforcement and reckless behavior – the positive reinforcement they sneak in periodically throughout the abuse cycle to make us long for the nice, caring person they pretended to be during the idealization phase of the relationship.
In addition, being with any type of abuser creates what Dr. Patrick Carnes (2010) calls “trauma bonds,” a form of Stockholm syndrome in which intense, shared experiences with the predator compel us to bond with them in order to survive. Trauma bonding is a psychological defense mechanism that allows us to withstand severe abuse and reconcile our cognitive dissonance about who the abuser pretended to be in the beginning of the relationship versus who he or she really is.
Furthermore, there are also practical reasons why victims do not leave abusive relationships. Some victims may have a fear of retaliation or harm depending on how malignant and physically or sexually abusive their abuser is; they may be financially dependent on their partners; they may have children or share a business with the narcissist; they may be isolated from their support network by their abuser.
They may also have a poor support network that does not validate the abuse they’ve suffered, including an invalidating psychologist who may not have been trained in treating clients suffering from this type of covert abuse. Insensitive friends and family members may shame abuse victims, asking them why they didn’t leave sooner and inquiring what they did to provoke the abuse.
Those closest to abuse survivors may question the abuse victim’s accounts of the abuse because they only see the false, charming self of the abuser, not realizing that abuse often takes place behind closed doors so that the abuser can escape accountability. This type of emotional invalidation leads the victim to doubt his or her perceptions of the abuse and stay within the relationship to try to make it work. Victims feel so alienated from those who supposedly love and care for them that their sense of learned helplessness is reinforced – they feel as if they are unable to escape the abusive relationship and rebuild a better life because there is no one who understand their situation. This sense of powerlessness and learned helplessness is at the core of all abusive relationships and the way abusers make us feel.
Understanding why we are addicted permits us recognize that our addiction is not about the merits of the narcissist, but rather the nature and severity of the trauma we’ve experienced, as well as the lack of invalidation and support victims are likely to encounter from society, and even those closest to them.
This challenges the victim-blaming discourse in society that prevents many abuse survivors from gaining support and validation for the traumas they’ve experienced – validation that would actually help, not hinder, these survivors from leaving their abusive relationships. That’s why it’s my mission to challenge this victim-blaming discourse in society so we can continue to dismantle the stereotypes and myths about abuse survivors and support them in their journey to healing.
You can listen to the show here and read the entire associated blog entry of the interview on their website here.
Is there a difference between Narcissistic Personality Disorder and another cluster B disorder such as Borderline Personality Disorder?
This is a very important question, as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) have often been used interchangeably among survivors. Many people on my blog or YouTube channel share their story of a BPD partner, believing that narcissism and BPD are one and the same. It is actually Antisocial Personality Disorder that is closer to Narcissistic Personality Disorder than Borderline Personality Disorder. Of course, abuse is still abuse regardless of the specific disorder, if any, a partner may have. However, I find it helpful to distinguish between the two so that survivors who are dealing with a BPD partner can better contextualize their experiences because it can be different than being with an NPD partner. This is why I think it’s so important to discuss different disorders, their manifestations, their nuances, and their distinctions.
Contrary to popular belief, there are actually some clinical distinctions between BPD and NPD. BPD and NPD are both cluster B disorders with many overlapping symptoms including interpersonal manipulation, a chronic sense of emptiness, a need for external validation and inappropriate displays of intense emotions such as rage. However, one thing they differ on is the degree of empathy they can experience as well as their motivation for the way they behave interpersonally. BPD people, because they struggle with such overwhelming emotions, are capable of empathizing with the emotions of others more so than people with NPD. In fact, research showsthat BPD individuals are actually more discriminating of mental states than people without BPD.
BPD individuals have difficult relationships with others for different reasons than NPD individuals. Individuals with BPD are more likely to fear abandonment, while narcissistic individuals are more likely to initiate abandonment, especially in the “discard” phase of their relationships. While narcissists often get a rush out of provoking their victims and harming them emotionally, which gives them “narcissistic supply” in the form of negative attention, BPD people are more likely to be emotionally manipulative because of their overwhelming fear of abandonment as well as chronic sense of emptiness and loneliness. BPD people are more likely to self-injure than to harm others. In fact, self-injury and suicidal thoughts/plans are a key component of BPD.
The emptiness that BPD people feel is a bit different – they do “need” people for validation, much like narcissists, but they are driven by the fear of abandonment in relationships rather than the need for supply – many can and do fall in love as well as empathize with their partners but the way they express that love can be demonstrated in incredibly manipulative, unhealthy and pathological ways due to their fears and inability to effectively cope with their extreme emotions.
The origin of BPD arises often in an incredibly invalidating family environment and/or trauma, which interacts with their biological predisposition to be hypersensitive, whereas the origin of NPD is still unknown. Theoretically, then, borderlines are more likely to be the victims of abusers – some of them may have even been raised by narcissistic parents – and later re-victimized because they are codependent and susceptible to emotional manipulation due to their need for validation from others. They feel emotions on an intense level, whereas narcissists often only feel intense emotions like rage due to narcissistic injury or a loss of supply. Most of the emotions narcissists experience are rather shallow – they feel emotionally numb most of the time and have a chronic sense of a void within themselves.
In addition, narcissists are unlikely to seek out therapy because a sense of superiority is intrinsic to their disorder. The majority of narcissists do not feel the need to change their behavior because it rewards them. They want to protect the image of their false self – not just from others but also from themselves. BPD people, on the other hand, tend to be hospitalized due to their suicide attempts/self-injury and can benefit from therapies such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, which enables them to regulate their emotions better, adopt healthier coping methods and learn skills for interpersonal effectiveness.
For readers interested in learning more about Borderline Personality Disorder, I would recommend reading Crowell and Marsha Linehan’s “A Biosocial Developmental Model of Borderline Personality Disorder” to understand more about the origins and behaviors associated with BPD.
Does therapy help or hurt a victim of narcissistic abuse?
Unfortunately, due to the lack of attention given to narcissistic abuse among mental health professionals, not all professionals are able to provide a sensitive and validating approach to victims of this type of covert psychological abuse. I believe that therapy by a professional trained and knowledgeable about this type of abuse can be incredibly helpful to abuse survivors – in fact, support from someone who understands this type of abuse is necessary to recovery and healing. However, there may be a few professionals who unintentionally re-victimize their clients when they invalidate their experiences and ask victims to look at their part in the abuse – this is especially prevalent in couple’s therapy, where both parties are told to change their behaviors and look within.
While it’s certainly admirable to look within for self-improvement, this type of invalidation can also make victims feel as if the covert abuse they are experiencing is not legitimate – which actually further gaslights them into staying within the relationship to make things work. Many survivors can benefit from sharing their story with another survivor who has been through similar experiences in addition to seeking therapy from a trained professional.
Whether a narcissistic partner can benefit from treatment in couple’s therapy is also highly dubious. I’ve heard from survivors that narcissistic/sociopathic abusers actually learn more manipulative tactics within therapy, thus exacerbating the abuse. Narcissists can use couple’s therapy to continue to project their false self onto their therapists and manipulate them into believing that the abuse is truly just in their partners’ heads.
This risk that therapy could also provide a site where narcissists actually learn to sharpen or practice their manipulation tactics outweighs the potential benefits. The narcissist can use the therapy space as a site of triangulation and the false self to regain control, engaging in heavy impression management. Since they are clever wolves in sheep’s clothing, it can be hard even as a mental health practitioner to assess the true motivations of the narcissist unless he or she has already been diagnosed. They may simply tell their therapists what they want to hear rather than having a genuine interest in improvement, and this can further invalidate the abuse victim’s experience.
I believe that instead of focusing on trying to cure the narcissist, we must practice enough self-love and awareness to assess how to detach from one and move forward with our lives. Focusing on our own healing brings us to a healthier and more positive place and enables us to see that we do deserve better.
What tools can I use to detach and heal from a narcissist?
Healing is a lifelong journey and what I hope survivors know is that each journey is unique depending on the survivor and his or her circumstances. The tools one survivor needs may not be the same tools another survivor needs.
Detaching and healing from the narcissist begins when we begin to arm ourselves with more knowledge about narcissistic abuse and antisocial personalities. Even if we stay and prolong the relationship, the more we educate ourselves about narcissistic abuse, the more knowledge we’ll have to stay centered and in control when encountering the tactics they use on us. Ultimately, we will find this type of toxic relationship unsustainable.
In order to begin to heal after the ending of the relationship, I recommend at least 90 days of No Contact (or Low Contact, if you are in circumstances where it is impossible to sever all ties with the narcissist, such as in the case of having children with them) – the same amount of time recommended for drug addicts in rehab. Our addiction to toxic partner is in fact like a drug addiction – while we may have many relapses, once we know our partner is a narcissist, there is no going back. Of course, the ideal outcome is No Contact for a lifetime.
Survivors can benefit from a variety of different healing modalities – both traditional and alternative – which can include therapy with a professional trained in narcissistic abuse or at the very least emotional abuse, meditation, yoga, journaling, as well as joining online and offline support groups. Survivors can also try from other forms of healing such as Reiki healing, positive affirmations, acupuncture, aromatherapy, EDMR therapy as well as NLP to tackle the wounds that originate in early childhood trauma.
Find a combination of methods that work for you and make you feel emotionally safe. I recommend having a coach and/or a validating counselor trained in this type of abuse during this process who can help talk you through the transition.
Most importantly, I recommend sharing your story with at least one other survivor who has been there as this can also be a very validating, empowering and healing experience. Many of my readers began their own YouTube channels, blogs and wrote their own books on their narcissistic abuse experience, which has helped them to heal tremendously – this is what I did as well and I can say it’s been one of the most rewarding parts of my journey, helping other survivors to heal. Regaining your voice after this type of abuse and raising awareness for a cause dear and near to your heart is incredibly healing and cathartic. It allows us to transform our experiences into portals of healing for other survivors.
It is my hope that all abuse survivors eventually are able to leave their abusive relationship – but part of my work is also to expose how difficult it is to extricate yourself from such a relationship. So it’s important to balance self-compassion with self-love at this time – you may have to make smaller steps before you make the big step.
Why do Narcissists come back and try to contact you even after the relationship has ended?
Many abusers stalk their victims months, even years after, especially if the victims left them first or if they see that their victims are moving forward with their lives. This threatens their sense of control that they once held over the victim. Also known as “hoovering,” (named after the hoover vacuum) this is a way to manipulate or “suck you” back into the trauma of the relationship. It’s actually a good sign because it means the narcissist knows he/she no longer has the power he once held over you.
Ignoring the hoovering tactic will only prove your strength and power, so maintain No Contact as much as possible. If the narcissist tries to provoke you or win you back by calling or texting you, instead of responding, engage in a different pleasurable activity – go for a run to release endorphins, soak in a relaxing bubble bath, text a friend who knows about your situation – do whatever is possible to be as unresponsive as possible while engaging in a form of self-care. While relapse can be inevitable in the addiction to the narcissist, it is possible to get your life back after narcissistic abuse. You just have to be committed to recovery no matter what happens.
What if the narcissist is the one who is “addicted” to something – is there a difference between a substance abuser who is emotionally abusive when using and a narcissistic abuser?
You may have met narcissistic partners who used alcohol or drugs as an excuse to engage in verbal and psychological abuse. I want to stress that there are people with legitimate addictions to alcohol and they need help, support and compassion. However, I believe there is a difference between an alcoholic who has become dependent on his or her addiction and a narcissistic abuser who uses alcohol as a means to abuse and escape accountability – this means that their substance use is co-morbid and co-exists with their narcissism. There are many people who abuse alcohol but do not abuse others when they do. Those who abuse alcohol and abuse others are often the ones who are using their addiction as an excuse to hurt others without having to be held accountable for the abuse they dish out while under the influence.
The truth of the matter is, curing a narcissist of his or her addiction will not cure his or her lack of empathy. Lundy Bancroft, author of Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men (2013) worked with many abusive partners who still made conscious decisions while abusing substances. Their abusive behavior also continued outside of their substance abuse, even if it was in more covert and subtle ways.
Narcissists can abuse drugs in order to fill the void and perpetual boredom and numbness they feel. The difference lies in whether the abuser carries out their manipulative behavior and self-centeredness outside of his/her addiction, and narcissists most certainly do. It is not a distinction that’s discussed often enough, but the overlap between substance abuse and narcissism must be discussed because victims may stay in relationships with narcissists if they are addicted to something, believing that if they help the narcissist cure his or her addiction, they will help to resolve the abuse.
What should survivors do with their experiences of narcissistic abuse?
It is important that survivors take advantage of all of the wisdom that this type of experience has to offer them, because it has the potential to unravel their lives and identity in unexpected ways. Meeting a narcissist can be a way to identify and heal wounds from the past as well as any self-sabotaging subconscious programming that’s holding you back from the happy, healthy life you truly deserve and are worthy of.
Many survivors reach out to me to tell me that they met the love of their lives after narcissistic abuse, while others are still searching but leading a healthier life without their narcissistic partners. Both are ideal outcomes – and far better outcomes than staying with a toxic partner the rest of their lives. While I can’t guarantee that you’ll meet the love of your life immediately after experiencing this type of abuse (in fact, it’s advised to take a long hiatus from relationships while healing as emotional predators are always on the lookout for vulnerability after a breakup), what I can guarantee all survivors is that they are all worthy and deserving of healthy, emotionally safe love as well as self-love and self-compassion.
Educate yourself as much as you can about this type of abuse. Empower other survivors by supporting them in forums and in support groups. Write about it, blog about, speak about it – raise awareness about this type of abuse in society so that emotional abuse is taken more seriously. Narcissistic abuse is just one segment of a larger problem in society where bullying and a lack of empathy are growing in our population. It is up to us, as teachers, authors, advocates, psychologists, survivors, friends, family members, parents – whoever we may be and whatever roles we may play, to influence society in such a way that we are able to prevent the rising lack of empathy in society. Rechannel all of your suffering into the greater good and you will find that you may even be grateful for what you’ve learned during this experience.
I know that I channeled some of the worst experiences of narcissistic abuse into my greatest victories; I never expected to be a bestselling author or to have a blog that has over a million views, but these are some of the miracles that happened because I learned to channel everything I was learning to help other survivors on my path.
When you are helping others heal, you help yourself heal. When you raise your voice, you strengthen the collective voice of the survivor community. Keep raising your voice. Never stop telling your story. Your story is so important and it can change someone else’s life by validating them. Sharing your story will also change your own life – it will help you to regain the voice you lost when you were abused. After this experience, make the commitment to become a self-care warrior – someone who is an advocate for his or her own recovery and victory.
Shahida Arabi is the author of The Smart Girl’s Guide to Self-Care, a bestselling Kindle book also available in print. She graduated summa cum laude with a Master’s degree from Columbia University where she studied the effects of bullying across the life-course trajectory. As an undergraduate student at NYU, Shahida also studied English Literature and Psychology and was President of its National Organization for Women (NOW) chapter. She is the founder and editor of the blog, Self-Care Haven, which has over 1.6 million views and has been shared worldwide in all 196 countries. Her viral blog entry, “Five Powerful Ways Abusive Narcissists Get Inside Your Head,” has also been shared worldwide and her work has been endorsed by numerous clinical psychologists, mental health practitioners, bestselling authors, and award-winning bloggers.
Shahida is passionate about using her knowledge base in psychology, sociology, gender studies and mental health advocacy, as well as her own personal experiences, to help survivors of emotional and psychological trauma stage their own recovery from abuse. Her writing has been featured on MOGUL, Yoganonymous, Elephant Journal, Dollhouse Magazine, The West 4th Street Review, Thought Catalog, the Feministing Community blog, author Lisa E. Scott’s blog and Harvard-trained psychologist Dr. Monica O’Neal’s website.
She is currently working on her second book on narcissistic abuse and has a new online monthly coaching program for survivors. She also hosts a popular YouTube channel on narcissistic abuse.
Popular Blog Entries:
Five Powerful Ways Abusive Narcissists Get Inside Your Head
What Abuse Survivors Don’t Know: 10 Life-Changing Truths
Why Do We Stay? Dismantling Stereotypes About Abuse Survivors
Your Brain on Love, Sex and the Narcissist: The Addiction to Bonding With Our Abusers
Social Media:
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YouTube Channel – www.youtube.com/user/selfcarehaven
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I am glad you started blogging about this. Helps putting things in perspective
I can’t wait till your book comes out. should be very enlighting
Hi there, my book is already out! You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Narcissists-Nightmare-Narcissist-Supplying-ebook/dp/B01B01O3PA/