Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) exhibits exaggerated feelings of self-importance, excessive need for admiration, and lack of empathy for others.
Leaving a narcissist is not easy. Too much involved. At the point that we are ready to leave a narcissist, we find that we are totally invested in the narcissist. He is all that matters and we don't matter at all. We have lost our sense of self. Yet, if we stay, our life may be truly over. Life with a narcissist can result in physical, mental, and emotional injury. Victims of narcissists tend to develop anxiety disorders, which can progress to the point where they become suicidal, and it can result in their taking their own lives. Living with a narcissist does not always include physical abuse. But the emotional abuse may leave scars that last a lifetime. Those who do leave narcissists tend to gravitate to other narcissists and the pattern is repeated. The emotional prison is so severe, that sometimes it's hard to leave because children are involved, the victim has no (or very little) access to money, or both. The thing is, you have been slowly molded and manipulated through the years to be in this prison.
How do people become narcissists?
They experience some type of tragedy or abuse as children that they cannot cope with. They then develop certain defenses to override the insecurity they feel. They develop a way of dealing with people where they demand admiration by others and feed off attention. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad attention, as long as they are receiving attention. They put themselves first in everything and other people are not even secondary, they just don't matter at all. They learn how to use people to serve their needs. And here is a perfect example of the phrase: If you don't use it, you lose it. By building these defenses and implementing those harmful behaviors toward others, they don't use the limbic system in their brain and, over time, that part of the brain becomes inactive. It petrifies, thus making it impossible to feel emotions, especially empathy towards others.
The brain of a narcissist is wired differently from the brain of a person who doesn't have this disorder. Research has found that the personality of the narcissist reflects the abnormality in their brain.
Let's look at the abnormality in the brain of a narcissist:
The limbic system is the emotional center of the brain. The limbic system comprises of the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, the amygdala and other parts of the brain. The limbic system is primarily responsible for our emotional life.
But, for the purpose of this blog, I am going to focus on the amygdala. The amygdala plays a central role in emotional perception and our responses. The amygdala of a narcissist has shrunken and, therefore, feels no empathy.
This malfunction in the amygdala explains why the narcissist is not concerned about how he treats other people.
My next blog will be about how the narcissist reels you in and the methods he uses to control you emotionally.
Leaving a narcissist is not easy. Too much involved. At the point that we are ready to leave a narcissist, we find that we are totally invested in the narcissist. He is all that matters and we don't matter at all. We have lost our sense of self. Yet, if we stay, our life may be truly over. Life with a narcissist can result in physical, mental, and emotional injury. Victims of narcissists tend to develop anxiety disorders, which can progress to the point where they become suicidal, and it can result in their taking their own lives. Living with a narcissist does not always include physical abuse. But the emotional abuse may leave scars that last a lifetime. Those who do leave narcissists tend to gravitate to other narcissists and the pattern is repeated. The emotional prison is so severe, that sometimes it's hard to leave because children are involved, the victim has no (or very little) access to money, or both. The thing is, you have been slowly molded and manipulated through the years to be in this prison.
How do people become narcissists?
They experience some type of tragedy or abuse as children that they cannot cope with. They then develop certain defenses to override the insecurity they feel. They develop a way of dealing with people where they demand admiration by others and feed off attention. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad attention, as long as they are receiving attention. They put themselves first in everything and other people are not even secondary, they just don't matter at all. They learn how to use people to serve their needs. And here is a perfect example of the phrase: If you don't use it, you lose it. By building these defenses and implementing those harmful behaviors toward others, they don't use the limbic system in their brain and, over time, that part of the brain becomes inactive. It petrifies, thus making it impossible to feel emotions, especially empathy towards others.
The brain of a narcissist is wired differently from the brain of a person who doesn't have this disorder. Research has found that the personality of the narcissist reflects the abnormality in their brain.
Let's look at the abnormality in the brain of a narcissist:
The limbic system is the emotional center of the brain. The limbic system comprises of the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, the amygdala and other parts of the brain. The limbic system is primarily responsible for our emotional life.
But, for the purpose of this blog, I am going to focus on the amygdala. The amygdala plays a central role in emotional perception and our responses. The amygdala of a narcissist has shrunken and, therefore, feels no empathy.
This malfunction in the amygdala explains why the narcissist is not concerned about how he treats other people.
My next blog will be about how the narcissist reels you in and the methods he uses to control you emotionally.
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