Wow. This explains everything I experienced perfectly. I used to always feel like he hated me the most when I was being the nicest to him. I told him I was trying to be a good person and he would always say, “trying means nothing.” I also felt like he was constantly pushing me so that I would react negatively to him. He even went as far as to randomly bring up a bad memory between us during a fun and happy moment and it would always start an argument. It was like he had to ruin all good moments. He once compared me to his mom and he told me he hated his mom. I asked him why he would want to be with someone who reminded him of his mom if he hated her so much and he could never answer that question. I ended things with him and he continued to hoover but I keep my distance, too much torture and I cant take that. It’s so sad that someone is only comfortable with abuse and chaos so they will create it. It’s a terrible life to have to live.
I also told my ex the same thing, if I am all of those disgusting things you call me why do you even want to be with me? This was after I moved out. He called crying apologizing, the very next day couldn't stop himself from calling me a whore. Because I wore a tank top. In TEXAS where it's over 100 outside! What you said is right, it is a terrible life to live.
Wow.thanks so much- you helped me. I met a guy online dating & it was so so; like I'd been sucked dry by a vampire. & that was without even meeting him!! I thought I was used to all narcissists do as an ACON. BUT his lovebombing was so so rapid + a heady concoction of Victim (him).
Now I understand how he turned on me When I wasn't as compliant & submissive to his hints at sex/ & grooming me online. When I told him I couldn't have sex before marriage; as a Christian; it was like I was at war with him suddenly. I changed in the brief whirlwind online dating "romance"(??) & he lost control. He became vile towards me. He then said; he'd erase all we'd written back & forth. He had to have the last say always. I no longer speak to him. He even said he Hated my lectures( ? What?) & I saw him as a "lost sheep"! Maybe I did.
I always suspected that “my narcissist” just took it out on the whole world for the pain it had experienced as a child…and listening to you, Professor, I more and more feel that all narcissists are eternal children revenging upon the world for the pain they experienced in childhood and that never go away….really very unhappy and poor people.
@@claudiknits Yes, that’s the point: we should realize that they suffer, but we should not feel responsible for this suffering…the only person in the world who should deal with it is their mother, so let’s leave them alone with each other, what do we have to do with it?
You are really spilling the tea. How silly of me to think i could "heal" this person from his mother wounds. And howany times did i feel my love was being tested amd i refused to become demonic. Crazy how this relationship opened my heart and revealed a capacity for love i never knew i had. The silver lining was that i knew i has a capacity to love unconditionally instead of hate. As the game played on, i finally woke up. Thank God, i healed and am free.
Oh me to I thought I could love him better 😂😂😂😂 I’m out of it and I don’t feel anything for him anymore I know because I am not triggered or irritated by talking about him but it’s only in passing I refuse to let people think I am a victim of his abuse, I’m a survivor of knowing him
It must be why the narcissist I dealt with didn't hoover. It makes sense. I was very kind and understanding towards him despite his lies and betrayal. Hatred feel horrible. I didn't want to engage in abuse. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had kept him around long-term. He didn't destroy me, but I certainly had to take some much needed rest and self-care time. Healing takes time no matter the length of a relationship. Very insightful information as always.
Another lecture that resonates and makes me reflect on the moment when I refused to abuse my ex narcissist. He even said out loud "Wow, we didn't have a single fight for the past 5 months?" At that time I had no clue who he really was, and I thought he wanted say how successful we were and that it was a good thing. Now I see he wanted to point out the lack of chaos and abuse! Shortly after he moved on from passive aggressive comments to emotional abuse and triangulation. I was shocked when my friends told me he posted another woman on his social media. I felt very strongly his intent to stab me in the heart and push me to do something similar. He succeeded to hurt me, but thankfully I could ignore his actions and run. I just lost all respect for him and never wanted to come back. His attempt failed and he deleted his profile, out of shame I assume. It's been a year or more since then and I feel so grateful that I came across this channel, learned about this phenomenon, and now I'm able to work on myself with Sam's gold advice.
@@LilyRose-fp4zw that is truly how I felt. After the anger of betrayal passed and when I learned what is happening to him, connecting the dots from his childhood to present moment I couldn't be angry or hurt anymore. I felt sad that he has to suffer like that, my pain is easier to deal with than his. He taught me an incredibly valuable lesson for looking out for the same behavior in the future, so it wasn't that big of a waste.
Dear Prof. Vaknin, your video’s are very detailed and useful. I lived many years with a “classic” narcissist. In the 80ies and early 90ies. I had some time to reflect on all that and other PDS. I would agree on a lot but have 2 observations. There were no obvious signs that there was a problem with his mother/parent. I really think she was a good enough mother. There must be other factors that create the desease, like genetics? I think you are often describing psychopathy but call it narcissism. Finally narcissism and psychopathy are one spectrum from grey to the darkest black. You call yourself a malignant narcissist, which is actually a psychopath, or a narcissistic psychopath. I do not see you as a narcissist. You are behaving and performing highly and effectively, and it puzzled me. Your video’s are the living evidence of that. So if any PD applies to you, I would go for highly performing and highly intelligent psychopath. My narcissist finally got noticed by a female psychopath who was desperately looking for a pray with money. She was not young. She was low educated, low job, not pretty, malformed but otherwise decadent, amoral and very highly sexually provocative to the point of touching men. She spent all her money and time on make-up, nails, tan and new very inappropriate provocative clothes. This was in an international scientific environment where she became a secretary after sleeping with her boss her way up. She was despicable and everyone knew that. Especially men and including my man. I was working there too as a scientist and knew the situation. I was the good partner to him all that time. I was the exact opposite of that secretary. She hooked on to him and showed him around as her pray. I am sure he took her because she was worth nothing. But it turned out very differently. Two later she married his salary. He wrote his properties (including my money) on her name only. Disinherited my children. All this when she was pregnant of the only child. When the gold digger had all his properties on her name, she was officially declared “handicapped” after a mysterious accident with a ball in the garden and a corrupt MD, and did not work a day anymore in her life. She was only 40 then. She was a full blown parasite, golddigger and psychopath. He lost everything. His trips now was bringing her to the hairdresser by car, to the nail shop, etc. He became her personal taxi driver. I think she used her illness as a reason for a sexless life. Finally she was only handicapped to make him work and also fully pay for her. I would appreciate your views on the above points. Thank you and best regards.
My narcissist told me many times that he felt like he could tell me anything and I wouldn’t fly off the handle. I thought that was a compliment at the time. He then started to try to trigger me. He said 2 out of every 10 interactions with your partner should be negative, otherwise it means you don’t care. I thought it was the strangest thing I’d ever heard. We lasted 7 weeks.
@@brosephbroheim6428 no, I didn’t get the sense it was about superstition. Looking back it seemed like a warning…he knew it would get ugly when he started to devalue me, and it did. I think he was planting a seed, basically saying it would be a good sign when we started to have issues and argue. What a strange group of people. What a horrible life. I hate that I still feel for him, and wish he could be different for his own benefit. What an empty life. It’s so sad.
the 2 out of 10 negative interactions is true though. The literature suggests that the sweet spot is between 11 to 1 and 6 to 1 or something like that, below which it's too negative but the upper threshold is 11 after which point negative interactions are beneficial to the health of the relationship so long as they of course are resolved conflicts that signal growth in the relationship.
@lchs2105 not arguments, maybe pushback, or compromise, or something like that. Basically to give challenge and opportunity for growth in the relationship is the idea.
I see. Well, mine wanted to argue. And the arguments basically stemmed from the same thing…me not bowing to his control, whether it was not agreeing with his opinion on something or doing what he wanted me to do or be. Hard pass on these people! 😂
Their brains are totally twisted so please just let them be and love yourself first before anyone else. You only have you no matter what you do it will never be enough for a NARC. You can do everything for them and still, you will never be good in their eyes cause they are just empty hollow souls inside.
Yes! And NO ONE is good for them, NOT ONE! To think of all the decent cute women my ex-husband engaged, it's just pathetic. They go on to have really great marriages, and I hope to find a decent man one day too! Love yourself you are right!!
I'm in the thick of it - right between the devaluation/ discard phase, which is one of huge pain. His smirk when he sees my hurt is very telling. All value is gone. His life is full of less than one year 'relationships' so I am right on schedule
He will try to get you back a fucking million times even if jusst as a friend and will keep on abusing u as a friend... once you decide to leave block and delete him everywhere nd go somewhere he cant find u
Sounds exactly like the ex I dated. Hated both of his parents and spent the whole time we dated steering all conversations to his life long grudges against his parents, his ex wife he divorced 18 years ago,and all other women he dated briefly. I just became another woman to idealize, love bomb, devalue, and project his punishment and blame onto for his life long grievances against the women in his past, and those that hurt , mortified,or slighted him sabotaging any chances for a loving healthy relationship.
He was abusing me for so long. I decided to stay because I wished he is going to change. I also wanted to have a family. He was treating me so terrible. I have told him so many time, I am going to leave you, if you can not treat me better, because I deserve better, we deserve better. You have a family, loving wife, healthy child, we both have jobs, money what else do you need more? Why can you not be happy? Why do you have to hurt me without a reason? No answear. And ofc to the outside Wrold we had to act, we are perfect together, for each other. But at home, behind the doors, at night.... Was a living Hell. I left him. Divorce is in process. He told me, I ahould have had to leave him earlier, so he would have recognized earlier, what he does is evil. So again, was my fault, that I didnt't leave him earlier, we wasted so much time. He is trying to have me back, I had time, when I thought, he is on a good way to become a better person but he never tells the truth. Even when he is kind, he is playing. I am sure now, after one and half year, that I will never start with him over. I have let him to abuse me 10 years. I hope one day I can forgive my self this. The mmost traumatic time in my life, what should have had to be the most amazing one: I became a wife, a mother... I wish I could start over my life. People! Pay attention to the red flags, they never lie!
My narcissist would often mention feeling "trapped"... I see, now, it's because I was a "good mother" and continued loving him unconditionally. Although he cheated on me with his ex the entire 3 years we were together. I always held on to "hope". Thank you, Professor Vaknin. Since watching your videos and lectures, I recently deleted him from social media and am trying my damndest to go no contact.
Bad habits are best replaced with good habits...Take a leap of faith...into a totally new you...set yourself free...to not look back. {Volunteering is a great escape from patterns of thought💖🕊️🌱🎯
I wish they taught this in school back when I was a kid. Ive said this for years, me being easy prey to the narcissist. Thanks for your work Prof. Sam 👍
That explains why my ex covert narc discarded me for a woman who's the one wearing the trousers in the relationship. A friend observed their dynamics and commented that it looks like she's mothering him like a strict mother would and, as she does, he keeps quiet as a scolded child.
I am shocked and overwhelmed by this lecture, I thought after ten months of research what these people are all about, but what Sam said, just shook me to the chore. I am on the healing path, whilst my husband, the narc, has moved in with my friend, also narc. So this is where he belongs, this is all really sick and twisted, I really don't want to bump into them. After everything I have done for him and his kids, he just took advantage of me, walked all over me!! He has damaged me and my daughter, and are now living in my little town, with my friend. Two narcs happily ever after, how sick😢
Same here but my neighbor who he got pregnant! It’s a match Made in hell and the next thing to do is totally remove yourself from the equation because if misery loves company for those two devils the more the merrier.
It is their version of temporary happily ever after though…it was never your definition so don’t waste any energy on envying that which caused you such harm. Good riddance. You will always be on top 👍🏼
Fascinating ! Here I was, on my own, trying to crack the code on what he could be thinking !! No one can comprehend these entities on their own and their twisted ways of thinking/being/operating. Thank you for helping us understand this condition so clearly. This information is priceless. It all makes sense now. Just wow
I've never heard it explained in quite this depth, but I feel like I always intuitively knew that something like this was going on with the narcissist I was dealing with in my life. If your overall goal is to keep things peaceful and to avoid fights, there's 0 chance of achieving your goal. They're either mad at you for fighting with them or they're mad at you for NOT fighting with them. They would seem to provoke me, and I would try my hardest not to react (because they were incapable of listening or understanding anyway) but it seemed that the calmer I was, the more confrontational they would get. Or, they would go the other direction and pretend to be "sad" and "miss me" if I gave them space after they were clearly annoyed or irritated by me - all because they wanted to pull me back in to their orbit for another chance to fight with me. Then if I would ever react, even in the TINIEST way like simply asking them if something was bothering them, they would launch into a tirade, telling me how terrible I was, and then they would start giving me the silent treatment. They would pretend like any small insignificant thing I said or did was proof that I was completely the reason for our turmoil. They had already arrived at this conclusion in their minds beforehand, so they would work backwards and exaggerate about something I did. "Well you asked me if something was wrong, so THAT is why I'm mad at you!" After a while, it became pretty obvious what was going on and what their thought process was like: "I want to fight, but I want YOU to be the CAUSE of the fight. So I'm going to be mad at you if you fight with me but I'm also going to be mad at you if you don't give me the satisfaction of being able to blame you for the fight." So again, if your goal was to make peace and get along, you were going to fail no matter what move you made. And because they lack all self-awareness, it's not like you can talk to them about this. You can't just say "I think you like fighting" because they will just take it as another insult and use it as more justification to tear you down and blame you for "attacking" them.
One video and suddenly EVERYTHING makes sense! I’ve been searching for an explanation about what happened for months. I could see that he was a narcissist, but couldn’t understand what caused him to escalate and escalate and escalate. Long ago, in my attempts to save the marriage I amped up the love and compassion, learnt relationship skills and practiced them religiously. Love begets love, right? No, wrong! In the end I was literally dying by the hand of his constant emotional abuse. It doesn’t ease the pain, but at least now I understand… Thank you for sharing your amazing insight, Prof Vaknin.
You were the first person I watched when I finally figured out what my then husband was. I'd never heard of the word NARCISSIST. When I began to read about narcissism it was as if someone had been spying on me for the last 18 years of my life. There were so many ah-hah moments, so many.
This is very cruel..And so crazy! I managed with great difficulty not becoming his punishing monster. It took several years. Now I am so glad I stayed a good person! Thank you very much!
I’m devaluing my ex narc when he reaches out to me - weirdly I feel he re-valuing me as a result lol. I’m not in any denial though that if I was to show him love and respect, I would be devalued again. Weirdo.
yeah there's so much of that online that i only now can understand the dynamics of. It's like when you affirm their low self esteem, they are vulnerable because in their internal world you now have the ability abuse them/cause pain. To avoid this pain, they as you say, re-value you and appease. Does this sound plausible?
@@goofyahhh254yes, if you turn the tables on them, act avoidant, secure in yourself, not needing their approval, you become the parent figure in their eyes they need to appease & people please. If you reject their servile people pleasing mode however, be careful because when they are feeling rejected they will go into angry worthless devalued mode, then project all their grief, anger, sense of betrayal, devaluation & narcissistic rage onto you.
This is an absolutely amazing lecture and validates everything my intuition was telling me about what this person wanted me to become and punished me for refusing that role he wanted to assign to me
Interesting how everything that is wrong with us as people come back to our parents. His mother was so toxic and selfish, and the golden child thing should have clued me in better, but you can't know what you DO NOT know! That's ok he can hate my guts forever. I will never be sorry for being a kind loving person who wanted to heal those parts of him that were so broken. Only God can do that now! I'm out.
This video is very very enlightening and very important to underatand. The begging for punishmemt is extremly hard to see and understand at the moment it’s going on. Only after some time and distance from all that’s happened you start to realize this pattern and how very accurate this video is . Thanks Sam!
I have sad this for 3 years, that some people create their own depression, because of their thinking, or their cognitive distortions. For instance, a covert narcissist with self-entitlement will feel “hurt” or “abused” when they are confronted with boundaries from others. It is the narcissist’s own skewed thinking that causes their “depression, which was (allegedly) sourced by the non-existent victimization they experienced.
the verbal dynamics i.e. what a person spews out is a post hoc rationalisation; we as a species obviously LOVE to tell and listen to stories. Like the split brain experiment; the visual side of the brain sees a bell but the verbal side cannot articulate it and automatically to combat this dissonance creates a story to reconcile. It's similar in people who create stories that they are the good one and everyone else is bad. The inability to consider that they are a bad person makes them start with the opposite conclusion and work backwards citing data.
28:30 i havent heard you come outright and say it yet, so im leaving this comment just incase... when you refuse to play their game; when you refuse to abuse them. They translate that directly into: You don't Love me. A very sad, twisted and downward spiral way of thinking. Thank you for your indepth videos. I'm fascinated with human behavior, and i strive to understand it. 39:39 to add to this if i may, i call this giving them the excuses they NEED to justify their actions. Fueling the fantasy further. You are right, they dont want a good partner. They simply don't want to be okay. If their partner does not participate in the shared fantasty, their actions become unreasonable. They would have to be okay with the current conditions, which is ultimately not what they really want 😩
When I first started dating the narcissist he would say your too “friendly” don’t speak to anyone your too goofy be serious for once…. Later down he would say I’m a mean person & nobody wants to be around me
In my case he said you are very reserved and don't talkative i like your straightforward behavior you only speak when it necessary.. Later he said you talk too much there is no point in your convos
Because, ultimately, (I think) they want us to become like they are. They like to find someone who is kind, generous, loving, compassionate, honest, loyal, empathetic, and drive them crazy, make them do angry hateful things, because they provoke this behavior. It's called projection. Where they dump all their negative energy on their partner, and then when the partner becomes angry, bitter, resentful, crazy, it relieves the anger, resentment, bitterness, and feels worthless, it makes them feel better.(It is also called reactive abuse-because the person tries to defend themselves-and the narcissist will say-Look! he or she is the crazy one-not me.) It's one way they can regulate their emotions. This was my experience for 30 years. He was angry all the time, and i became angry too (I wasn't an angry person before i met him) and he would say (with a smirk) "Why are you so angry all the time?" Been single for 11 years, and I am not angry all the time now. I'm pretty much the same person every day now. Thank God.
Super relevant question--I think it's because they are delusional. After being with two, I can see that they also think they want a loving relationship, and so they enjoy it at first, but then it starts annoying them...
I think it’s because they thrive on drama. That’s why they love to provoke you with triangulation and flirting with others in front of you. They love your angry reaction. They also feel more attracted to „villain“ figures than to „hero“ partners.
@@alexsky104 they don't want love because they don't understand love that's the whole game 🤔 Narcissists feed on your vulnerability but mentally healthy partner see your vulnerability as your human flaw...
Exactly! I was unfortunate enough to fall in love with someone that I’ve been friends with for 9 years.For that he has made me pay dearly by making me his emotional porta potty and is rejecting me and making public knowledge of it. I have suspected that he is a covert narcissist for awhile now, but I don’t want to believe it. My therapist said “This guy screams narcissist to me.” 😂I said, “no, it’s not his fault. He’s had a lot of trauma in his life.” Ok, well, whatever the case I can’t allow myself to be treated like that and I’m just going to have to get over it. It sucks because I still want to be friends, but whenever we hang out we have such a connection that I won’t be able to get over him, and he will love that.😂
Yes, healthy people see the vulnerability of the narc and don’t take it personally. We can see their internal struggle and inability to relate in a healthy way very easily.
My heart feels like its breaking listening to this... I feel so sorry for her that she is trapped in this existence with no way out...She would ruin good times out of thin air, multiple times a week.. it made no sense.. now it does..
O wow this is so deep! Thanks for explaining it! It sooo wierd because even the narc that I once knew... his own father said to me "he needs a mommy, now you can be his mother" 🙄🤦♀️🤯🥱
I appreciate the distinction made here between depression as cognitive distortion that any person can succumb to following a jarring life event, versus emotions and behaviors that result from legitimate mood disorders, and occur in spite of external circumstances (good or bad). I was diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder and can attest to this. Things in my life can be auspicious, and still I'll struggle with total misery. Conversely, my life can turn to complete sh-- by all objective standards, and I'll feel so euphoric that I don't care about the consequences of my actions, who I hurt or alienate. I've returned to Prof. Vaknin's work following a breakup with a borderline woman exhibiting a surreal and disorienting kind of malignancy that borders on the psychopathic. The most awful thing about the relationship was the cooccurrence of her symptoms with mine, and having been triggered by her in what was a mutually grandiose, intoxicating ecstasy at the time. My manic grandiosity will often mimic narcissism, and when it collided with her pathology, nothing but bad things happened. Even though the results of my manic grandiosity can often be identical to injuries inflicted by people with NPD, distinctions need to be made to get at root causes. Some things are biochemical and I feel that I am more culpable for my narcissistic behavior than actual narcissists. I can be medicated and treat my symptoms. Narcissists have a harder time doing so and it's tragic. Cluster B disorders are very difficult to untangle, and it is best to tell the difference between mood-dependent behavior and the behavior of those with rigid personality structures.
A video outlining the differences between cognitive distortions and mood disorders and how they relate to cluster B personality disorders would be very interesting!
This session has helped me understand the strange masochistic/ sadistic torture my ex put upon me. I never knew how he would react from one minute to another. His seething hatred of his mother came out after we were married. Thank God I got out and have been free for 2 years. Thank you Sam for educating me and so many others! Shalom
Man this video really puts the behavior of my previous partner into a context. Eye opening and stomach turning. He pushed me to start to become a person I despise, I was after 6 years starting to become mean, cruel and physically rough. Praise the Lord I got out after 8 years, can you imagine who I would have been after 16 or even 30? Great video to bring the dynamic into focus and give me a proper understanding!
Exactly the same here, also 8 years. He had to call the police on me. I was going to stab him. Never had this with anyone in my life. I'm glad you got out. I did too❤
This explains why so many situations left me feeling like she was trying to get me to hit her, call her names etc... it really felt like the more kind and forgiving i was to her the more she hated me and treated me with contempt.
This video blew my mind. I was able to understand so, so much! After watching so many videos I still didn’t understand why? Why do they act and treat this way. But this video explains so much. This should be video number one. Understanding how there love language is distorted
My ex would brutalize me physically and verbally and if I cried, which I often did, he would imitate me crying and tell me to go cry somewhere else and walk away.
THANK YOU, Prof. Vaknin! I always KNEW he saw me as his mother, but now I understand WHY and also why he would push me to my limits till I'd ( usually) break.
Wow Prof!!! This is the best and most comprehensive rounded description I heard on the topic. My wife is a covert/vulnerable narcissist. Until probably 3 months ago i did not have a clue about what is happening. we were going to divorce 3 months back. I decided to reconsider and since then your info has helped me understand the dynamics and what is happening. I had to put bounderies in place, but also learn to understand my own wounding and disposition. She latched on to my wounds to reactively abuse me into abusing her. the level of chaos, conflict and dysfunction in this household was just next level. But yes the scary part is that she requires her narcisistc supply and if i'm not giving that to her anymore and if she needs to discard of me, what will she be doing to achieve that ...
Throughout our 34 yr marriage, I thought I observed so much of this but.. it didnt add up..right?? My intuition told me so much that I dismissed as my own ridiculousness.. I thought, well no, that cant be.. But, how many times I thought, 'Hes not happy unless hes miserable' and then 'no, hes happy when Im miserable'. It appeared that I really frustrated him when I tried to solve/mitigate his complaints about me- but..( that doesnt make sense, right?) His body language and words rarely matched. He acted/looked like someone who held me in great contempt but his words were opposite..or vice versa. In the last years I began to (imagine?) that I had 'robbed' him of the whole package of his vision of the poor misunderstood but ever faithful public servant law enforcement officer persona- I failed to catch on that he really wanted me to leave/divorce him so he could have the whole package.( The divorce rate is very high in the law enforcement community) I deprived him of Realizing his fantasy of being a John Wayne movie character. Dopey me, I thought I was supposed to try and work on our marriage and our differences. The idea that I was his enemy because i wouldn't finally have enough and leave seemed like crazy angry thinking on my part.. I remember the moment i let myself realize that he would not be 'happy' until I was 'dead'. I wrapped up the last tiny still slightly warm ember of 'me' and resolved to protect it and perhaps resuscitate what was left of my 'fire'. I separated emotionally from him that moment - never told him but he knew. He died of cancer 3 yrs later. I have carried a deep burden for several years wondering if I killed him- by cutting off his supply- (a term i had not yet heard). I suspected, but now I know, there was nothing else I could have done. If I had left him, I would have damaged our children. If I had been hateful toward him, he would have been the victim and I the aggressor, and damaged our children. As he was a well known and admired pillar of our community, no one would have known or understood why I left, and it would have aliented me from our families, community, friends and our children. Your videos have snapped into place the missing puzzle pieces- I can, at last, know I did all I could and finally, put this in its box, shelve it and step forward. Thank you.
So, the mother modeling love as dependency and coercion and that's the distorted love he knows and comprehends is the problem. So, then on the first date we better to talk about our mothers, right? To see what kind of distorted love we are potentially getting into.
Another stellar video, Professor Vaknin! It helped clarify to me why narcissists seem to be so incredibly perversely self-sabotaging in their relationships. The concepts in this video, I believe, are perfectly illustrated in the film “Phantom Thread.”
wow on point!!! Thank you, Profesor Sam for sharing your knowledge!! The narcissist person I was for 2 years recently, did enjoy for a couple months my unconditional love, but now that all the memories are coming together, I remember him saying things or catching some behaviors that will make me wonder if it was intentionally to make me mad or make me want to break up with him. I used to see everything with compassion and empathy and he even confessed a few times now after he has been a piece of shit I was still loving and compassionate, and then he will be loving for a bit and it will give me feel like I was doing right and I felt validated. one time I got mad about something that I can't remember exactly but of course, it was something about him and I raised my voice and show him some anger, he laugh and said that he was glad he saw me angry, he thought it was weird that so far I wasn't getting angry at him.. I thought that was super weird and I of course right the way I thought he was saying something true (He had me very well trained) finally when I turned like him, he didn't like but the weird part is that he didn't want to break up, it was me the one that ends up breaking up with him because it was so dysfunctional and I didn't like myself being that way, I left him and find his way to stay in touch with me, creating hopes and since I am also dealing with abandonment issues and past trauma, and he groomed me very well, I started to doubt myself for leaving him, once he saw me back emotionally he then slowly discard me until he found his next supply! I felt in such deep depression I wanted to kill myself! what a dangerous individual, but also a lesson for me as well, to work on my traumas and childhood programming, know myself, and feel confident with boundaries to prevent getting into these experiences. I've been in 2 narcissistic relationships and I just realized my dad was a narcissist.
There is no one there, only him in a complex with his mother....Doesn't it remind you of the movie Psycho?! Beyond that we are all supporting players if at all
24:35 my X Narc was always married to his Magnigalant mother , she objectified him and dangelled the golden Carret $$$$$$$ it 's all it was about. I was the slave , 18 yrs of my wages , to his $1200 drug habit a month.. So he didn't work much of this union ,, kept a bank account with mommy in EU .. And stool 140K , internet banking on my way out.. I'm done.. Exhausted .
I am starting to realize... That my childhood.. it conditioned me to view pain and instability.. I think it's love. And I've been seeking out more abuse ever since I was a teenager and got married to abusive husband #1
I have forever felt unlovable, ashamed and I sought out pain In romantic partners. I'm in my 30s now and I literally just look for it now. It's self destruction via someone else , mostly romantic partners
Same happened to me, my mom was narcisstic but we made amends towards the end and I also married a very abusive partner and actually I felt forced in the marriage, sorry you 2 had to experience that.
This is extremely helpful, as are all of your videos. I look through the comments at the victims' horrible experiences and wonder to myself though, do narcissists (the abusers) ever watch the videos and reflect to thinking "oh dear, I'm the narcissist in this relationship situation."
I am a little bit confused here. A narcissist deliberately pokes the bear so to speak (partner) in order for the partner to become abusive via abandonment, anger, or whatever type of abuse given to the narcissist which in turn satisfies the narcissist. But where does Narcissist injury fit into all this? Narcissists hate to be ignored, to be disagreed with, to falsify their perception of reality or anything that threatens their grandiosity. Hence, causing narcissistic injury and them flying into rage. So, are narcissistic asking for narcissistic injury? Please clarify this as this video got me questioning narcissistic injury and what it means to a narcissist.
@samvaknin @beckybbarr is the situation of a narcissist asking you to leave him and delete and block him from social media etc. similar to this? So he/she in the end can see you as the enemy?
THIS VIDEO IS GOLD! After listening to probably over 100 videos of this subject THIS ONE finally cleared things up for me! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😅 And as much as I kept thinking throughout the video that “now I know how to destroy him back” THAT is me becoming like the narcissist myself. You can’t ever ever win over them. It is doomed and they are doomed. Because all they need is to separate over and over and over. There is no final separation and then things turn! No they will continue this cycle throughout their entire lives. All you can do is to leave! Let them hate you… they are punished forever because they can never taste the sweetest fruit in the entire universe which is Love! But you can… and THAT is YOUR winning card right there, although for those of you still hurting you can’t smell the win yet. It will come! Thanks Sam
Why do some narcissists eventually discard their partners even when those partners have been punitive and harsh towards them? In my previous experience, my (covert) narcissist ex would often push me into situations where, due to my BPD, I found myself caught up in extremely intense reactive behaviors that sometimes extended for hours. Despite this, my narc ex would state that he couldn't handle the conflicts and disagreements that arose from our interactions. He also made it clear that he never wants to experience that kind of pain again. After 10 long years I was discarded and he moved in with his new supply shortly after. I'm curious about the dynamics that lead to a narcissist discarding someone who has been punitive, especially when the person still wants to continue the relationship, as was in my case?
That was very interesting. There was a night he showed I meant nothing to him so I let it go. I don’t hate, just waisted energy. There was this hatred repeated connection to ex wife, your video explained it.
I just had one of those moments as I was carefully listening to your breakdown of a narcissist’s tendencies to love to give and receive abuse…..that lightbulb 💡 turned on up over my head and I dug up some old childhood memories of a family member…a 1st cousin who was raised by the kind of mother that you described. I once was invited to his house and I witnessed how badly he treated his wife with the most horrible ridicule and verbal abuse ( in front of me ) that I’d ever witnessed and she just took it aIl as if it was normal ! I just wanted to leave and go home..because he made me feel very awkward and uncomfortable….I just wanted to leave! I do remember his mom was very stern and would yell at him a lot…tell him how stupid he and his brother are…and she also was constantly in fights with his father….and I remember being very intimidated by her ! I have almost cut him totally out of my life because he was an energy vampire…always wanting me to come to his house or go out and do something but I always make it known that I’m busy. 🫥 I liked your coffee mug ! lol ☕️ New subscriber…highly educational! 👌🏼😎
Vaknin…You described something that is soo Foreign to me …But after soo many of your Amazing and Top Educational and Deep Insightful Dive into the Hurt Child in Woman’s Body that I was Married to for the Last 18 years…I realize now that My Unconditional Love Was too Foreign to her to be Happy and constantly leaving for other BobbleHead Lovers and attempted Relationships …Thankyou Professor…you May have saved my marriage…I will give one more chance and With all hope she can separate from her Mother Figure and finally individuate…and become her True Self…even if she doesn’t come back…this freedom for her is more than enough in my heart…I am willing to help her even at this Moment even though she is with an abusive Narc …I will try my best Professor…Thankyou…any other of your videos should I view and understand before trying my best to help her…My Deepest Appreciation Professor…
This describes my ex. I am looking after her cats and painting her condo right now(am I an idiot or what) I have so much empathy for her though. Her mother disowned her when she was 27 years old and then the mother passed away from a massive heart attack about four months later which is really tragic and she's kept the letter. The first 6 months we're amazing, and then after a year, I've been gaslighted into thinking that all of our problems are because of me. Yet I've been giving the silent treatment, she's used sex as a transaction, she's withheld sex and affection, she's giving me ultimatums timelines Etc. She knows which buttons to push in order to get a reaction so she can use it against me. She knows now that I'm not going to settle for someone who's emotionally unavailable and not able to connect on a deep level so it's pretty much a done deal in the relationship is over. And of course she's making me look bad as if everything is my fault oh, and I probably stayed in the relationship too long trying to prove reality to this person and everybody else but you know what, it'll never happen. It's not going to make her capable of loving me. And the way I feel about her, to Unconditionally Love Her is to just let her go and hope she can find happiness within herself without feeling like she has to get that from somebody. I tried to explain to her that she really isn't her thoughts, that they're just thoughts and she's just observing them and they're not really who she is. But I just don't think she really understands how to be, she said she meditates but oh, I think her idea of meditation is just distracting her from her negative thoughts. I don't know. I know the trauma she's experienced, I experienced terrible trauma at the age of 10
You can't love her to heal. She needs to love herself. You actually never loved her she is projecting you to you. You fell in love with yourself. There is no self there for her. For her to figure that out she would have to stop looking for supply and let herself collapse become a loser and go through her blackhole to the new her that exists when a blackhole collapses in on it self. You can't do that for anyone. It's actually your ego seeking supply that your this healer, this empath, you are going to save her. You are seeking love through her as well. Love yourself this person is not there. You can't go through the blackhole with her we all go through that alone.
In the first months with my ex gf (love bombing), she was extremely jealousy and afraid of abandonment. She was trying to control my life and my friends, she asked me so many questions, she was so afraid. And she actually told me multiple times "please don't leave me, I don't know if I can handle it". But months later, she changed, she was trying really hard and everyday to make me mad at her for any random reason you could imagine, it's like she was self-sabotaging our relationship.. How someone that was afraid of abandonment, suddenly wants to sabotage our relationship? now I understand. Well, I was caring and helping her with all my love, I told her we could fight together and break any barrier in our life, that I would never abandon her... And then, she tried to destroy my life.. And all I needed to do was just be mad and abuse her feelings to avoid all the destruction? If only I had known this earlier... This makes a lot of sense. Looks like she can't just leave the relationship in the normal way, she needs to recreate the abandonment by her mother causing pain for both of us. Its so sad that she lives this way, and I know her history, she did the same to her ex before me, and probably gonna do the same to his new bf. Prof. Sam Vaknin, do you have any statistics of how long usually a love bombing/devaluation take in average? for example, love bombing = 3 months average, or this is just too personal for each narc?
I’m not a professional in the field. But it takes as long as the Narcissist believes she got you in the palm of her hand. After that…it all goes down the hill. I you try to leave her, the cycle repeats. I speak from experience.
Everything you said line by line happened to me. And the thing is I believed her when she tells me she loves me but we fight every other day. I'm usually not a person of an argument and I was always trying to adjust to her climate to make her happy and make this chaos go away. I thought me giving everything I have can fix her. And after all my efforts, she left and I was confused and devastated. I didn't know she leaving is a blessing for me.
Thank you for sharing this eye-opening information. It's really impressive how I met a person with this profile. The wierd thing is that, this person I met, also shows all the characteristics of a Humiliation wounded person. I don't know if these two psychological conditions are related or not, but that person is defenetly a narcissist.
My first time here, this video has the capacity to change my life. I must watch it 100 more times. When you strip away the chaos, irrationality, love and hate this video is ground zero. The absolute root to how and why my soul had to die. This is it This needs to be taught to children before junior high school in my opinion. I don’t need coaching to be strong or ways to seek revenge from the covert narcissist, what I’ve endured was a long death and I need to know why? I’m new here, do you practice in the US?
And now you have helped me to understand my sister, who passed away in January. Sigh. 🙏 thank you. Well, you already explained her when I watched your video on the dark triad.
Sam, the info is amazing! I personally have a narcissistic part and as interesting as the aetiology of that part is in your descriptions, do you have any videos about how psychotherapy for the narcissist progresses?
Thank you professor for describing the relationships between my grandparents, my parents, my siblings & various ex narcissistic partners including my most recent ex who I've remained friends with as part of a detached on & off situationship for the last 2 years after the relationship broke down. Your video explains many things I've been confused about throughout my life. Needing to be detached, having healthy boundaries, not letting the crazy making psychodrama get to me, threatening to call the police, actually calling the police when necessary, having to deal with near death experiences, & also crashing into the back of a police car once on my bike, have all been part of my life experience. My life story dealing with narcissistic family members & partners could provide enough material for a text book on psychology. I've even had an ex when I was a student who made a film about me for his final film as a film student who murdered me in the film, then almost murdered me after I left him, after I found out he had betrayed me with multiple other women. He loved me apparently & cried his eyes out because he didn't want me to leave him & thought I didn't mind. I then had to call the police again on him in 3 different cities in the UK & France when he stalked me online 13 years later. It was all because bad mummy left bad daddy when he was 4. My latest narcissistic ex also had bad mummy who used to shout at him & bad daddy triggering bad mummy all the time. When we 1st started seeing each other & the lovebombing stopped & I succumbed to his enmeshment, the devaluation & discard began. He even told me he didn't respect me because I didn't shout at him in the beginning. He also described a traumatic memory in the beginning where he described some other terrible bad ex causing him to drive home under the influence of alcohol one time while he was pursued by the police even though they let him off. He blurred the memory with him abandoning me & driving home in the middle of the night while he was under the influence of alcohol the 2nd time he stayed with me, leaving me asleep. I was also now the bad woman blurred in his traumatized amalgyda brain with all the other bad women mother replacements causing him to drive in the middle of the night under the influence of alcohol even though he didn't have to & could have just slept over at mine peacefully. It turned out later his mum continually shouted at him to wake up for school, instead of buying him an alarm clock, so he had continual anxiety sleeping & would wake up in the middle of the night feeling compelled to rush off somewhere. He also subjected me to narcissistic abuse cycles at 4am repeatedly where he would wake up or wake me up & accuse me continually repeating the same thing. He called me Amber Hurd for 10 hours once for example. After we split up we stayed in touch on & off, & he would alternate between subservient people pleaser & be very sweet but also servile & childlike & immature & boundary blurring, enmeshment style, with not just me, but everyone he met, wherever he went, then he would discard me & ghost me repeatedly after making arrangements with me all the time, then if I tried to communicate with him or negotiate with him, he would then devalue me & berate me for hours calling me names, telling me I was stalking him the same as the woman in baby reindeer even though he had only just arranged to do things with me & had been acting like he was in a relationship with me taking me out to dinner & flirting with me blurring boundaries with me previously. The last time we interacted a few weeks ago he said he wanted to give me a bicycle & a rug one minute, but then when I said I didn't need them, even though I was polite about it, he then spent all day accusing me of making up false allegations against him saying he was a sex offender & a rapist even though I never did, literally all day, maybe 8 hours of it, saying he was a victim & I deserved to go to prison, until eventually I told him if he didn't shut up, I would report him for harassment, because he was making me ill, & made me feel like he was triggering a PTSD response in me, because I've been a victim of violent rape in the past, so found the words triggering. Once I told him I would call the police if he didn't shut up, he calmed down, then did a U-turn & switched & sent me a very polite email saying he hoped I would heal soon, & he had empathy for my pain. It's interesting actually, when he 1st started seeing me in the beginning, he sent me a picture of himself in a policeman hat, like a fancy dress costume. When he 1st blocked me on FB after the 1st discard phase once the initial lovebombing was over, I didn't understand why, but then I later found out he'd reverted to trawling through his FB female friends pictures behind my back who were all posting pictures of themselves dressed up in cosplay costume as witches, sending multiple ❤ emojis to them behind my back. They were his female fans / groupies / friends he said, since he was a musician, who all provided the "bad mummy" stereotype image for his rockstar ego persona. He had asked me why I didn't post my picture online, but when I said I didn't want attention from stalkers, evidently that wasn't good enough. Whereas I was expecting a real relationship in real life, as soon as the relationship actually began, the bubble was burst & I was unable to replace the limerent fantasy he had created in his imagination lusting after all the terrible bad evil mummy witch women online but never being satisfied. So there you go. I never really understood his fascination for toxic women, but realised I had turned into the sterile unsexy good mum replacement he no longer respected, while the bad dangerous unreachable online bad mummy witch women online were far more interesting. Now you've explained why he's always pushing me for an argument until I tell him to shut up or I'll call the police or I flip & tell him what a bad boy he is etc. I understand. I feel like I'm still dealing with his inner teenager who never grew up. Interestingly he has a close relationship with his parents but describes his father as antagonistic & his mother continually dismissive shouting at the dad to shut up. He also has 2 different jobs which replicate the 2 split aspects of his persona. 1. He is a cleaner, cleaning toilets for people, the most servile job imaginable, 2. He is a guitarist in multiple bands with an entourage of anonymous clone groupies all showing off at his gigs. This is despite the fact his training is in engineering a skill he is gifted in, but never pursued as a career. He's a vulnerable narcissist so he prefers playing the servile people pleasing victim in his cleaning job, dressed up like a tramp with holes & stains on his clothes, then getting all dressed up to the 9s rockstar style when he's out doing his gigs. I inevitably met him when he was dressed up rockstar style, but then once he'd started the lovebomb & discard phase he no longer dressed up for me. I see him as the scruffy janitor version, like the Hong Kong Phooey cartoon character instead. Anyhow. I'm alive, surviving & living my life nowadays & seeing other people as friends who are more calm & peaceful. I bought him a t-shirt I'll give him if I see him again, with the words "I'm not arguing, just explaining why I'm right" & just say yes dear & carry on, & not get engaged with him emotionally in future. If we can remain respectful friends, that's fine, no drama necessary. He can keep his witch women groupies to entertain him as bad mummy replacement, & all the best to him. ✌️
All you presented in this video, Professor Vaknin, explains a lot. In my case, he would even ask me, verbally and clearly to become mean and to treat him badly. I didn't take him seriously. So, he did meen it
My narcissistic ex has dysfunctional parents and he's aware of it, goes as far as expressing he doesn't want to turn out like them. Then he goes do the exact same things his father did to his mother that he hated to me. He also manipulates and lies like his mother... to ME. Called him out and he goes into denial and reject the notion he is behaving like his parents in the exact same way he hated.
A normal person can not survive in that crazy environment
Either you end crazy or an abuser too
This is me. I don't wanna end up killed or just as cruel and heartless as them, *but they crippled me*
@@BL-sd2qwget to out
But anyhow we have to get up, and work for our improvement. @@BL-sd2qw
They ẹnjoy quarrelling, fighting, ... Good people bore them immensely.
You are confusing narcissists with drama queen borderlines.
I don't know about enjoying but i know their souls crave conflicts and drama!!!!!!!
Does it matter what kind of disorder they have? We don't need to be a psychologist to know it's impossible to live in peace with people like that.
Now I understand why he had nothing but contempt for me, whilst I was only trying to help him. Thank you Sam
Wow. This explains everything I experienced perfectly. I used to always feel like he hated me the most when I was being the nicest to him. I told him I was trying to be a good person and he would always say, “trying means nothing.” I also felt like he was constantly pushing me so that I would react negatively to him. He even went as far as to randomly bring up a bad memory between us during a fun and happy moment and it would always start an argument. It was like he had to ruin all good moments. He once compared me to his mom and he told me he hated his mom. I asked him why he would want to be with someone who reminded him of his mom if he hated her so much and he could never answer that question. I ended things with him and he continued to hoover but I keep my distance, too much torture and I cant take that. It’s so sad that someone is only comfortable with abuse and chaos so they will create it. It’s a terrible life to have to live.
I also told my ex the same thing, if I am all of those disgusting things you call me why do you even want to be with me? This was after I moved out. He called crying apologizing, the very next day couldn't stop himself from calling me a whore. Because I wore a tank top. In TEXAS where it's over 100 outside! What you said is right, it is a terrible life to live.
My heart sank reading this…… “trying means nothing” over and over and over I would hear this, never could please even when I was “trying” so hard
Wow.thanks so much- you helped me. I met a guy online dating & it was so so; like I'd been sucked dry by a vampire.
& that was without even meeting him!!
I thought I was used to all narcissists do as an ACON.
BUT his lovebombing was so so rapid + a heady concoction of Victim (him).
Now I understand how he turned on me
When I wasn't as compliant & submissive to his hints at sex/ & grooming me online. When I told him I couldn't have sex before marriage; as a Christian; it was like I was at war with him suddenly. I changed in the brief whirlwind online dating "romance"(??) & he lost control. He became vile towards me. He then said; he'd erase all we'd written back & forth. He had to have the last say always. I no longer speak to him. He even said he Hated my lectures( ? What?) & I saw him as a "lost sheep"! Maybe I did.
Familiar..
I always suspected that “my narcissist” just took it out on the whole world for the pain it had experienced as a child…and listening to you, Professor, I more and more feel that all narcissists are eternal children revenging upon the world for the pain they experienced in childhood and that never go away….really very unhappy and poor people.
😢
So true...
Yes ..that's why I feel compassion for my narc ..which I shouldn't feel I guess, cause it opens him the door again and again 😢
@@claudiknits Yes, that’s the point: we should realize that they suffer, but we should not feel responsible for this suffering…the only person in the world who should deal with it is their mother, so let’s leave them alone with each other, what do we have to do with it?
@@StormyCraig-m2i you are exactly right!
You are really spilling the tea. How silly of me to think i could "heal" this person from his mother wounds. And howany times did i feel my love was being tested amd i refused to become demonic. Crazy how this relationship opened my heart and revealed a capacity for love i never knew i had. The silver lining was that i knew i has a capacity to love unconditionally instead of hate. As the game played on, i finally woke up. Thank God, i healed and am free.
Oh me to I thought I could love him better 😂😂😂😂
I’m out of it and I don’t feel anything for him anymore I know because I am not triggered or irritated by talking about him but it’s only in passing I refuse to let people think I am a victim of his abuse, I’m a survivor of knowing him
This topic isn’t boring this is life saving information
It must be why the narcissist I dealt with didn't hoover. It makes sense. I was very kind and understanding towards him despite his lies and betrayal. Hatred feel horrible. I didn't want to engage in abuse. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had kept him around long-term. He didn't destroy me, but I certainly had to take some much needed rest and self-care time. Healing takes time no matter the length of a relationship. Very insightful information as always.
Another lecture that resonates and makes me reflect on the moment when I refused to abuse my ex narcissist. He even said out loud "Wow, we didn't have a single fight for the past 5 months?" At that time I had no clue who he really was, and I thought he wanted say how successful we were and that it was a good thing. Now I see he wanted to point out the lack of chaos and abuse! Shortly after he moved on from passive aggressive comments to emotional abuse and triangulation. I was shocked when my friends told me he posted another woman on his social media. I felt very strongly his intent to stab me in the heart and push me to do something similar. He succeeded to hurt me, but thankfully I could ignore his actions and run. I just lost all respect for him and never wanted to come back. His attempt failed and he deleted his profile, out of shame I assume.
It's been a year or more since then and I feel so grateful that I came across this channel, learned about this phenomenon, and now I'm able to work on myself with Sam's gold advice.
@@LilyRose-fp4zw that is truly how I felt. After the anger of betrayal passed and when I learned what is happening to him, connecting the dots from his childhood to present moment I couldn't be angry or hurt anymore. I felt sad that he has to suffer like that, my pain is easier to deal with than his. He taught me an incredibly valuable lesson for looking out for the same behavior in the future, so it wasn't that big of a waste.
Dear Prof. Vaknin, your video’s are very detailed and useful.
I lived many years with a “classic” narcissist. In the 80ies and early 90ies. I had some time to reflect on all that and other PDS. I would agree on a lot but have 2 observations. There were no obvious signs that there was a problem with his mother/parent. I really think she was a good enough mother. There must be other factors that create the desease, like genetics?
I think you are often describing psychopathy but call it narcissism. Finally narcissism and psychopathy are one spectrum from grey to the darkest black.
You call yourself a malignant narcissist, which is actually a psychopath, or a narcissistic psychopath. I do not see you as a narcissist. You are behaving and performing highly and effectively, and it puzzled me. Your video’s are the living evidence of that. So if any PD applies to you, I would go for highly performing and highly intelligent psychopath.
My narcissist finally got noticed by a female psychopath who was desperately looking for a pray with money. She was not young. She was low educated, low job, not pretty, malformed but otherwise decadent, amoral and very highly sexually provocative to the point of touching men. She spent all her money and time on make-up, nails, tan and new very inappropriate provocative clothes. This was in an international scientific environment where she became a secretary after sleeping with her boss her way up.
She was despicable and everyone knew that. Especially men and including my man. I was working there too as a scientist and knew the situation.
I was the good partner to him all that time. I was the exact opposite of that secretary.
She hooked on to him and showed him around as her pray. I am sure he took her because she was worth nothing.
But it turned out very differently. Two later she married his salary. He wrote his properties (including my money) on her name only. Disinherited my children. All this when she was pregnant of the only child. When the gold digger had all his properties on her name, she was officially declared “handicapped” after a mysterious accident with a ball in the garden and a corrupt MD, and did not work a day anymore in her life. She was only 40 then. She was a full blown parasite, golddigger and psychopath.
He lost everything. His trips now was bringing her to the hairdresser by car, to the nail shop, etc. He became her personal taxi driver. I think she used her illness as a reason for a sexless life. Finally she was only handicapped to make him work and also fully pay for her.
I would appreciate your views on the above points. Thank you and best regards.
@@lievevancamp1548d
My narcissist told me many times that he felt like he could tell me anything and I wouldn’t fly off the handle. I thought that was a compliment at the time. He then started to try to trigger me. He said 2 out of every 10 interactions with your partner should be negative, otherwise it means you don’t care. I thought it was the strangest thing I’d ever heard. We lasted 7 weeks.
@@brosephbroheim6428 no, I didn’t get the sense it was about superstition. Looking back it seemed like a warning…he knew it would get ugly when he started to devalue me, and it did. I think he was planting a seed, basically saying it would be a good sign when we started to have issues and argue. What a strange group of people. What a horrible life. I hate that I still feel for him, and wish he could be different for his own benefit. What an empty life. It’s so sad.
the 2 out of 10 negative interactions is true though. The literature suggests that the sweet spot is between 11 to 1 and 6 to 1 or something like that, below which it's too negative but the upper threshold is 11 after which point negative interactions are beneficial to the health of the relationship so long as they of course are resolved conflicts that signal growth in the relationship.
How many interactions do you have with a spouse a day? At least 10, right? So, 2 arguments a day sounds healthy to you? Ugh. No thanks.
@lchs2105 not arguments, maybe pushback, or compromise, or something like that. Basically to give challenge and opportunity for growth in the relationship is the idea.
I see. Well, mine wanted to argue. And the arguments basically stemmed from the same thing…me not bowing to his control, whether it was not agreeing with his opinion on something or doing what he wanted me to do or be. Hard pass on these people! 😂
Their brains are totally twisted so please just let them be and love yourself first before anyone else. You only have you no matter what you do it will never be enough for a NARC. You can do everything for them and still, you will never be good in their eyes cause they are just empty hollow souls inside.
Yes! And NO ONE is good for them, NOT ONE! To think of all the decent cute women my ex-husband engaged, it's just pathetic. They go on to have really great marriages, and I hope to find a decent man one day too! Love yourself you are right!!
And so boring to b honest. When it isn't about them there's nothing
@@kimberlyfloyd1009that’s is my mother too
I am not going EVER to trust anyone again! This is just too painful to bear!
I'm in the thick of it - right between the devaluation/ discard phase, which is one of huge pain. His smirk when he sees my hurt is very telling. All value is gone. His life is full of less than one year 'relationships' so I am right on schedule
Please leave now you change everything and take your power back I walked away from mine ❤
He will try to get you back a fucking million times even if jusst as a friend and will keep on abusing u as a friend... once you decide to leave block and delete him everywhere nd go somewhere he cant find u
Stay gone...10 years in & same shit
Sounds exactly like the ex I dated. Hated both of his parents and spent the whole time we dated steering all conversations to his life long grudges against his parents, his ex wife he divorced 18 years ago,and all other women he dated briefly.
I just became another woman to idealize, love bomb, devalue, and project his punishment and blame onto for his life long grievances against the women in his past, and those that hurt , mortified,or slighted him sabotaging any chances for a loving healthy relationship.
He was abusing me for so long. I decided to stay because I wished he is going to change. I also wanted to have a family. He was treating me so terrible. I have told him so many time, I am going to leave you, if you can not treat me better, because I deserve better, we deserve better. You have a family, loving wife, healthy child, we both have jobs, money what else do you need more? Why can you not be happy? Why do you have to hurt me without a reason? No answear. And ofc to the outside Wrold we had to act, we are perfect together, for each other. But at home, behind the doors, at night.... Was a living Hell. I left him. Divorce is in process. He told me, I ahould have had to leave him earlier, so he would have recognized earlier, what he does is evil. So again, was my fault, that I didnt't leave him earlier, we wasted so much time. He is trying to have me back, I had time, when I thought, he is on a good way to become a better person but he never tells the truth. Even when he is kind, he is playing. I am sure now, after one and half year, that I will never start with him over. I have let him to abuse me 10 years. I hope one day I can forgive my self this. The mmost traumatic time in my life, what should have had to be the most amazing one: I became a wife, a mother... I wish I could start over my life. People! Pay attention to the red flags, they never lie!
My narcissist would often mention feeling "trapped"... I see, now, it's because I was a "good mother" and continued loving him unconditionally. Although he cheated on me with his ex the entire 3 years we were together. I always held on to "hope". Thank you, Professor Vaknin. Since watching your videos and lectures, I recently deleted him from social media and am trying my damndest to go no contact.
Bad habits are best replaced with good habits...Take a leap of faith...into a totally new you...set yourself free...to not look back. {Volunteering is a great escape from patterns of thought💖🕊️🌱🎯
I'm.so sorry you went through this! My narc ex would say the same - how did you know he was cheating on you with his ex??
I’m so happy for you. Be happy for yourself
Go no contact for eternity. There is nothing good that will come of having a narcissist in your life at all. If I can do it. So can you…
Why the need to own the narcissist? ‘MY’ narcissist? Why ?
Wow! This is scary if you are the type of person that is very loving.
All your love, all your empathy, understanding and kindness are used against you. It's awful.
i once told him that I'm not his mom. i had no idea how on the nose i was with saying that considering this scheme that's actually playing out
I wish they taught this in school back when I was a kid. Ive said this for years, me being easy prey to the narcissist.
Thanks for your work Prof. Sam 👍
That explains why my ex covert narc discarded me for a woman who's the one wearing the trousers in the relationship. A friend observed their dynamics and commented that it looks like she's mothering him like a strict mother would and, as she does, he keeps quiet as a scolded child.
I am shocked and overwhelmed by this lecture, I thought after ten months of research what these people are all about, but what Sam said, just shook me to the chore. I am on the healing path, whilst my husband, the narc, has moved in with my friend, also narc. So this is where he belongs, this is all really sick and twisted, I really don't want to bump into them. After everything I have done for him and his kids, he just took advantage of me, walked all over me!! He has damaged me and my daughter, and are now living in my little town, with my friend. Two narcs happily ever after, how sick😢
Same here but my neighbor who he got pregnant! It’s a match Made in hell and the next thing to do is totally remove yourself from the equation because if misery loves company for those two devils the more the merrier.
It is their version of temporary happily ever after though…it was never your definition so don’t waste any energy on envying that which caused you such harm. Good riddance. You will always be on top 👍🏼
SAME! they've been together for 8 years and I have to coparent. Nightmare. But he's happy with her.
My stomach was churning while listening, but I appreciate this valuable information.
my stomach always churns when I listen to Vaknin lol
Fascinating ! Here I was, on my own, trying to crack the code on what he could be thinking !! No one can comprehend these entities on their own and their twisted ways of thinking/being/operating. Thank you for helping us understand this condition so clearly. This information is priceless. It all makes sense now. Just wow
Yes, it all makes sense now.
Such a complicated inflection.... Imposible to live safely with such person with these inflections.
Is it generational?
I've never heard it explained in quite this depth, but I feel like I always intuitively knew that something like this was going on with the narcissist I was dealing with in my life. If your overall goal is to keep things peaceful and to avoid fights, there's 0 chance of achieving your goal. They're either mad at you for fighting with them or they're mad at you for NOT fighting with them.
They would seem to provoke me, and I would try my hardest not to react (because they were incapable of listening or understanding anyway) but it seemed that the calmer I was, the more confrontational they would get. Or, they would go the other direction and pretend to be "sad" and "miss me" if I gave them space after they were clearly annoyed or irritated by me - all because they wanted to pull me back in to their orbit for another chance to fight with me.
Then if I would ever react, even in the TINIEST way like simply asking them if something was bothering them, they would launch into a tirade, telling me how terrible I was, and then they would start giving me the silent treatment. They would pretend like any small insignificant thing I said or did was proof that I was completely the reason for our turmoil. They had already arrived at this conclusion in their minds beforehand, so they would work backwards and exaggerate about something I did. "Well you asked me if something was wrong, so THAT is why I'm mad at you!"
After a while, it became pretty obvious what was going on and what their thought process was like: "I want to fight, but I want YOU to be the CAUSE of the fight. So I'm going to be mad at you if you fight with me but I'm also going to be mad at you if you don't give me the satisfaction of being able to blame you for the fight." So again, if your goal was to make peace and get along, you were going to fail no matter what move you made. And because they lack all self-awareness, it's not like you can talk to them about this. You can't just say "I think you like fighting" because they will just take it as another insult and use it as more justification to tear you down and blame you for "attacking" them.
You just can't win. I'm glad that's behind me now.
One video and suddenly EVERYTHING makes sense! I’ve been searching for an explanation about what happened for months. I could see that he was a narcissist, but couldn’t understand what caused him to escalate and escalate and escalate.
Long ago, in my attempts to save the marriage I amped up the love and compassion, learnt relationship skills and practiced them religiously. Love begets love, right? No, wrong! In the end I was literally dying by the hand of his constant emotional abuse.
It doesn’t ease the pain, but at least now I understand…
Thank you for sharing your amazing insight, Prof Vaknin.
This explains so much about narcissist behavior and motivations and why they push people to the point of breaking.
As a borderline i also feel love is connected to pain ..throughout my life relationships felt like i only lived when feeling pain
You were the first person I watched when I finally figured out what my then husband was. I'd never heard of the word NARCISSIST.
When I began to read about narcissism it was as if someone had been spying on me for the last 18 years of my life. There were so many ah-hah moments, so many.
This is very cruel..And so crazy! I managed with great difficulty not becoming his punishing monster. It took several years. Now I am so glad I stayed a good person! Thank you very much!
I’m devaluing my ex narc when he reaches out to me - weirdly I feel he re-valuing me as a result lol. I’m not in any denial though that if I was to show him love and respect, I would be devalued again. Weirdo.
yeah there's so much of that online that i only now can understand the dynamics of. It's like when you affirm their low self esteem, they are vulnerable because in their internal world you now have the ability abuse them/cause pain. To avoid this pain, they as you say, re-value you and appease. Does this sound plausible?
@@goofyahhh254yes, if you turn the tables on them, act avoidant, secure in yourself, not needing their approval, you become the parent figure in their eyes they need to appease & people please. If you reject their servile people pleasing mode however, be careful because when they are feeling rejected they will go into angry worthless devalued mode, then project all their grief, anger, sense of betrayal, devaluation & narcissistic rage onto you.
So that’s why they leave good people as they pick the worse people! Makes sense
This is an absolutely amazing lecture and validates everything my intuition was telling me about what this person wanted me to become and punished me for refusing that role he wanted to assign to me
Interesting how everything that is wrong with us as people come back to our parents. His mother was so toxic and selfish, and the golden child thing should have clued me in better, but you can't know what you DO NOT know! That's ok he can hate my guts forever. I will never be sorry for being a kind loving person who wanted to heal those parts of him that were so broken. Only God can do that now! I'm out.
Yes they hate the said of us that is good 👍 and 🥰 they see it as a weakness
@@andresandres1666 maybe, and he wanted a nice nurturing non icy mother.
This video is very very enlightening and very important to underatand. The begging for punishmemt is extremly hard to see and understand at the moment it’s going on. Only after some time and distance from all that’s happened you start to realize this pattern and how very accurate this video is . Thanks Sam!
This is the best video I've ever seen on the dynamics of a relationship with narcissist. This was exactly my experience with my narcissistic ex.
Thank G-d my narcissist died. It was either him or me.
I have sad this for 3 years, that some people create their own depression, because of their thinking, or their cognitive distortions. For instance, a covert narcissist with self-entitlement will feel “hurt” or “abused” when they are confronted with boundaries from others. It is the narcissist’s own skewed thinking that causes their “depression, which was (allegedly) sourced by the non-existent victimization they experienced.
the verbal dynamics i.e. what a person spews out is a post hoc rationalisation; we as a species obviously LOVE to tell and listen to stories. Like the split brain experiment; the visual side of the brain sees a bell but the verbal side cannot articulate it and automatically to combat this dissonance creates a story to reconcile.
It's similar in people who create stories that they are the good one and everyone else is bad. The inability to consider that they are a bad person makes them start with the opposite conclusion and work backwards citing data.
28:30 i havent heard you come outright and say it yet, so im leaving this comment just incase... when you refuse to play their game; when you refuse to abuse them. They translate that directly into: You don't Love me. A very sad, twisted and downward spiral way of thinking. Thank you for your indepth videos. I'm fascinated with human behavior, and i strive to understand it.
39:39 to add to this if i may, i call this giving them the excuses they NEED to justify their actions. Fueling the fantasy further. You are right, they dont want a good partner. They simply don't want to be okay. If their partner does not participate in the shared fantasty, their actions become unreasonable. They would have to be okay with the current conditions, which is ultimately not what they really want 😩
The way this just cleared my mind up about past relationships. This is just plain ol' Genius, Professor Vaknin. Thank you.
Thank you all for the comments ❤ at least I dont feel so alone now with my experience
Thanks to you I understood why the closeted gay narcissist hated me even when I was so good and caring person, your information is pure gold 😊
I think alot of em are closet gay
When I first started dating the narcissist he would say your too “friendly” don’t speak to anyone your too goofy be serious for once…. Later down he would say I’m a mean person & nobody wants to be around me
In my case he said you are very reserved and don't talkative i like your straightforward behavior you only speak when it necessary..
Later he said you talk too much there is no point in your convos
But why doesn't the narcissist go for a punitive partner in the first place? Why all trouble in having to coerce a loving partner into a punitive one?
Because, ultimately, (I think) they want us to become like they are. They like to find someone who is kind, generous, loving, compassionate, honest, loyal, empathetic, and drive them crazy, make them do angry hateful things, because they provoke this behavior. It's called projection. Where they dump all their negative energy on their partner, and then when the partner becomes angry, bitter, resentful, crazy, it relieves the anger, resentment, bitterness, and feels worthless, it makes them feel better.(It is also called reactive abuse-because the person tries to defend themselves-and the narcissist will say-Look! he or she is the crazy one-not me.) It's one way they can regulate their emotions. This was my experience for 30 years. He was angry all the time, and i became angry too (I wasn't an angry person before i met him) and he would say (with a smirk) "Why are you so angry all the time?" Been single for 11 years, and I am not angry all the time now. I'm pretty much the same person every day now. Thank God.
Super relevant question--I think it's because they are delusional. After being with two, I can see that they also think they want a loving relationship, and so they enjoy it at first, but then it starts annoying them...
I think it’s because they thrive on drama. That’s why they love to provoke you with triangulation and flirting with others in front of you. They love your angry reaction. They also feel more attracted to „villain“ figures than to „hero“ partners.
Basically narcissists hates stability in relationship
@@alexsky104 they don't want love because they don't understand love that's the whole game 🤔
Narcissists feed on your vulnerability but mentally healthy partner see your vulnerability as your human flaw...
Self sabotage
Exactly! I was unfortunate enough to fall in love with someone that I’ve been friends with for 9 years.For that he has made me pay dearly by making me his emotional porta potty and is rejecting me and making public knowledge of it. I have suspected that he is a covert narcissist for awhile now, but I don’t want to believe it. My therapist said “This guy screams narcissist to me.” 😂I said, “no, it’s not his fault. He’s had a lot of trauma in his life.” Ok, well, whatever the case I can’t allow myself to be treated like that and I’m just going to have to get over it. It sucks because I still want to be friends, but whenever we hang out we have such a connection that I won’t be able to get over him, and he will love that.😂
💯
Yes, healthy people see the vulnerability of the narc and don’t take it personally. We can see their internal struggle and inability to relate in a healthy way very easily.
My heart feels like its breaking listening to this... I feel so sorry for her that she is trapped in this existence with no way out...She would ruin good times out of thin air, multiple times a week.. it made no sense.. now it does..
This is by far your best lecture. So enlightening, so informative and totally on point. This is where I stand up a clap.
He used to tell me that he loved my meanness
O wow this is so deep! Thanks for explaining it! It sooo wierd because even the narc that I once knew... his own father said to me "he needs a mommy, now you can be his mother" 🙄🤦♀️🤯🥱
I appreciate the distinction made here between depression as cognitive distortion that any person can succumb to following a jarring life event, versus emotions and behaviors that result from legitimate mood disorders, and occur in spite of external circumstances (good or bad).
I was diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder and can attest to this. Things in my life can be auspicious, and still I'll struggle with total misery. Conversely, my life can turn to complete sh-- by all objective standards, and I'll feel so euphoric that I don't care about the consequences of my actions, who I hurt or alienate.
I've returned to Prof. Vaknin's work following a breakup with a borderline woman exhibiting a surreal and disorienting kind of malignancy that borders on the psychopathic.
The most awful thing about the relationship was the cooccurrence of her symptoms with mine, and having been triggered by her in what was a mutually grandiose, intoxicating ecstasy at the time. My manic grandiosity will often mimic narcissism, and when it collided with her pathology, nothing but bad things happened.
Even though the results of my manic grandiosity can often be identical to injuries inflicted by people with NPD, distinctions need to be made to get at root causes. Some things are biochemical and I feel that I am more culpable for my narcissistic behavior than actual narcissists. I can be medicated and treat my symptoms. Narcissists have a harder time doing so and it's tragic.
Cluster B disorders are very difficult to untangle, and it is best to tell the difference between mood-dependent behavior and the behavior of those with rigid personality structures.
Search for my videos about Bipolar Disorder.
A video outlining the differences between cognitive distortions and mood disorders and how they relate to cluster B personality disorders would be very interesting!
This session has helped me understand the strange masochistic/ sadistic torture my ex put upon me. I never knew how he would react from one minute to another. His seething hatred of his mother came out after we were married. Thank God I got out and have been free for 2 years. Thank you Sam for educating me and so many others! Shalom
Unbelievably twisted but absolutely true.
Man this video really puts the behavior of my previous partner into a context. Eye opening and stomach turning. He pushed me to start to become a person I despise, I was after 6 years starting to become mean, cruel and physically rough. Praise the Lord I got out after 8 years, can you imagine who I would have been after 16 or even 30?
Great video to bring the dynamic into focus and give me a proper understanding!
Exactly the same here, also 8 years. He had to call the police on me. I was going to stab him. Never had this with anyone in my life. I'm glad you got out. I did too❤
This explains why so many situations left me feeling like she was trying to get me to hit her, call her names etc... it really felt like the more kind and forgiving i was to her the more she hated me and treated me with contempt.
I just love Professor Sam. “Good after morning.” I just took a course called Sexuality and Addiction. Very good class.
This video blew my mind. I was able to understand so, so much! After watching so many videos I still didn’t understand why? Why do they act and treat this way. But this video explains so much. This should be video number one. Understanding how there love language is distorted
My ex would brutalize me physically and verbally and if I cried, which I often did, he would imitate me crying and tell me to go cry somewhere else and walk away.
That's disgusting... why did you even stay with someone like that?
THANK YOU, Prof. Vaknin! I always KNEW he saw me as his mother, but now I understand WHY and also why he would push me to my limits till I'd ( usually) break.
One of the bests explanation about NPD , if it’s not the best one. You’re genius San!
Sam *
Wow Prof!!! This is the best and most comprehensive rounded description I heard on the topic. My wife is a covert/vulnerable narcissist. Until probably 3 months ago i did not have a clue about what is happening. we were going to divorce 3 months back. I decided to reconsider and since then your info has helped me understand the dynamics and what is happening. I had to put bounderies in place, but also learn to understand my own wounding and disposition. She latched on to my wounds to reactively abuse me into abusing her. the level of chaos, conflict and dysfunction in this household was just next level. But yes the scary part is that she requires her narcisistc supply and if i'm not giving that to her anymore and if she needs to discard of me, what will she be doing to achieve that ...
This video is one of the best Ive seen. Thank you Sam.
Throughout our 34 yr marriage, I thought I observed so much of this but.. it didnt add up..right?? My intuition told me so much that I dismissed as my own ridiculousness.. I thought, well no, that cant be.. But, how many times I thought, 'Hes not happy unless hes miserable' and then 'no, hes happy when Im miserable'. It appeared that I really frustrated him when I tried to solve/mitigate his complaints about me- but..( that doesnt make sense, right?) His body language and words rarely matched. He acted/looked like someone who held me in great contempt but his words were opposite..or vice versa. In the last years I began to (imagine?) that I had 'robbed' him of the whole package of his vision of the poor misunderstood but ever faithful public servant law enforcement officer persona- I failed to catch on that he really wanted me to leave/divorce him so he could have the whole package.( The divorce rate is very high in the law enforcement community) I deprived him of Realizing his fantasy of being a John Wayne movie character. Dopey me, I thought I was supposed to try and work on our marriage and our differences. The idea that I was his enemy because i wouldn't finally have enough and leave seemed like crazy angry thinking on my part.. I remember the moment i let myself realize that he would not be 'happy' until I was 'dead'. I wrapped up the last tiny still slightly warm ember of 'me' and resolved to protect it and perhaps resuscitate what was left of my 'fire'. I separated emotionally from him that moment - never told him but he knew. He died of cancer 3 yrs later. I have carried a deep burden for several years wondering if I killed him- by cutting off his supply- (a term i had not yet heard). I suspected, but now I know, there was nothing else I could have done. If I had left him, I would have damaged our children. If I had been hateful toward him, he would have been the victim and I the aggressor, and damaged our children. As he was a well known and admired pillar of our community, no one would have known or understood why I left, and it would have aliented me from our families, community, friends and our children. Your videos have snapped into place the missing puzzle pieces- I can, at last, know I did all I could and finally, put this in its box, shelve it and step forward. Thank you.
❤
So, the mother modeling love as dependency and coercion and that's the distorted love he knows and comprehends is the problem. So, then on the first date we better to talk about our mothers, right? To see what kind of distorted love we are potentially getting into.
Another stellar video, Professor Vaknin! It helped clarify to me why narcissists seem to be so incredibly perversely self-sabotaging in their relationships. The concepts in this video, I believe, are perfectly illustrated in the film “Phantom Thread.”
Will watch this film. Thanks for mentioning it.
wow on point!!! Thank you, Profesor Sam for sharing your knowledge!! The narcissist person I was for 2 years recently, did enjoy for a couple months my unconditional love, but now that all the memories are coming together, I remember him saying things or catching some behaviors that will make me wonder if it was intentionally to make me mad or make me want to break up with him. I used to see everything with compassion and empathy and he even confessed a few times now after he has been a piece of shit I was still loving and compassionate, and then he will be loving for a bit and it will give me feel like I was doing right and I felt validated. one time I got mad about something that I can't remember exactly but of course, it was something about him and I raised my voice and show him some anger, he laugh and said that he was glad he saw me angry, he thought it was weird that so far I wasn't getting angry at him.. I thought that was super weird and I of course right the way I thought he was saying something true (He had me very well trained) finally when I turned like him, he didn't like but the weird part is that he didn't want to break up, it was me the one that ends up breaking up with him because it was so dysfunctional and I didn't like myself being that way, I left him and find his way to stay in touch with me, creating hopes and since I am also dealing with abandonment issues and past trauma, and he groomed me very well, I started to doubt myself for leaving him, once he saw me back emotionally he then slowly discard me until he found his next supply! I felt in such deep depression I wanted to kill myself! what a dangerous individual, but also a lesson for me as well, to work on my traumas and childhood programming, know myself, and feel confident with boundaries to prevent getting into these experiences. I've been in 2 narcissistic relationships and I just realized my dad was a narcissist.
There is no one there, only him in a complex with his mother....Doesn't it remind you of the movie Psycho?! Beyond that we are all supporting players if at all
24:35 my X Narc was always married to his Magnigalant mother , she objectified him and dangelled the golden Carret $$$$$$$ it 's all it was about.
I was the slave , 18 yrs of my wages , to his $1200 drug habit a month..
So he didn't work much of this union ,, kept a bank account with mommy in EU ..
And stool 140K , internet banking on my way out..
I'm done.. Exhausted .
I my opinion, this is the MOST detailed and clarifying of your videos about the devaluation-discard process with the mother figure. Thank you, again!
I am starting to realize... That my childhood.. it conditioned me to view pain and instability.. I think it's love.
And I've been seeking out more abuse ever since I was a teenager and got married to abusive husband #1
I have forever felt unlovable, ashamed and I sought out pain In romantic partners.
I'm in my 30s now and I literally just look for it now.
It's self destruction via someone else , mostly romantic partners
Am I the f***ing narcissist
Same happened to me, my mom was narcisstic but we made amends towards the end and I also married a very abusive partner and actually I felt forced in the marriage, sorry you 2 had to experience that.
@@JenniferNewLife144 💜
@@JenniferNewLife144 I'm sorry for what you went through also.
This is extremely helpful, as are all of your videos. I look through the comments at the victims' horrible experiences and wonder to myself though, do narcissists (the abusers) ever watch the videos and reflect to thinking "oh dear, I'm the narcissist in this relationship situation."
I think one of the most annoying traits about them is the inability to self reflect or hold accountability.
I am a little bit confused here. A narcissist deliberately pokes the bear so to speak (partner) in order for the partner to become abusive via abandonment, anger, or whatever type of abuse given to the narcissist which in turn satisfies the narcissist. But where does Narcissist injury fit into all this? Narcissists hate to be ignored, to be disagreed with, to falsify their perception of reality or anything that threatens their grandiosity. Hence, causing narcissistic injury and them flying into rage. So, are narcissistic asking for narcissistic injury? Please clarify this as this video got me questioning narcissistic injury and what it means to a narcissist.
Yes. They want to be injured so that they can regard you as an enemy and devalue you (separate from you).
@samvaknin @beckybbarr is the situation of a narcissist asking you to leave him and delete and block him from social media etc. similar to this? So he/she in the end can see you as the enemy?
This guy is awesome
THIS VIDEO IS GOLD!
After listening to probably over 100 videos of this subject THIS ONE finally cleared things up for me! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😅
And as much as I kept thinking throughout the video that “now I know how to destroy him back” THAT is me becoming like the narcissist myself. You can’t ever ever win over them. It is doomed and they are doomed. Because all they need is to separate over and over and over.
There is no final separation and then things turn! No they will continue this cycle throughout their entire lives.
All you can do is to leave!
Let them hate you… they are punished forever because they can never taste the sweetest fruit in the entire universe which is Love! But you can… and THAT is YOUR winning card right there, although for those of you still hurting you can’t smell the win yet.
It will come!
Thanks Sam
Why do some narcissists eventually discard their partners even when those partners have been punitive and harsh towards them? In my previous experience, my (covert) narcissist ex would often push me into situations where, due to my BPD, I found myself caught up in extremely intense reactive behaviors that sometimes extended for hours. Despite this, my narc ex would state that he couldn't handle the conflicts and disagreements that arose from our interactions. He also made it clear that he never wants to experience that kind of pain again. After 10 long years I was discarded and he moved in with his new supply shortly after. I'm curious about the dynamics that lead to a narcissist discarding someone who has been punitive, especially when the person still wants to continue the relationship, as was in my case?
You narcissistically injured him once too often or mortified him.
That was very interesting. There was a night he showed I meant nothing to him so I let it go. I don’t hate, just waisted energy. There was this hatred repeated connection to ex wife, your video explained it.
I just had one of those moments as I was carefully listening to your breakdown of a narcissist’s tendencies to love to give and receive abuse…..that lightbulb 💡 turned on up over my head and I dug up some old childhood memories of a family member…a 1st cousin who was raised by the kind of mother that you described.
I once was invited to his house and I witnessed how badly he treated his wife with the most horrible ridicule and verbal abuse ( in front of me ) that I’d ever witnessed and she just took it aIl as if it was normal !
I just wanted to leave and go home..because he made me feel very awkward and uncomfortable….I just wanted to leave!
I do remember his mom was very stern and would yell at him a lot…tell him how stupid he and his brother are…and she also was constantly in fights with his father….and I remember being very intimidated by her !
I have almost cut him totally out of my life because he was an energy vampire…always wanting me to come to his house or go out and do something but I always make it known that I’m busy. 🫥
I liked your coffee mug ! lol ☕️
New subscriber…highly educational! 👌🏼😎
Scary, priceless knowledge....thank you
Psychology seems deep Interesting and opening secrets of life.
Vaknin…You described something that is soo Foreign to me …But after soo many of your Amazing and Top Educational and Deep Insightful Dive into the Hurt Child in Woman’s Body that I was Married to for the Last 18 years…I realize now that My Unconditional Love Was too Foreign to her to be Happy and constantly leaving for other BobbleHead Lovers and attempted Relationships …Thankyou Professor…you May have saved my marriage…I will give one more chance and With all hope she can separate from her Mother Figure and finally individuate…and become her True Self…even if she doesn’t come back…this freedom for her is more than enough in my heart…I am willing to help her even at this Moment even though she is with an abusive Narc …I will try my best Professor…Thankyou…any other of your videos should I view and understand before trying my best to help her…My Deepest Appreciation Professor…
an eye-opening lecture... thank you!
I have been following Dr. Vaknin for years. This is my favorite content he’s gifted us. Thank you again Dr. Vaknin.
This is exactly what happens when you do not participate and stay. Thank you for explaining the rationale behind this!!
The pattern is undeniable. Thank you for the abnormal psychology class Sam. Too bad you don’t offer continuing education credits!
This describes my ex. I am looking after her cats and painting her condo right now(am I an idiot or what) I have so much empathy for her though. Her mother disowned her when she was 27 years old and then the mother passed away from a massive heart attack about four months later which is really tragic and she's kept the letter. The first 6 months we're amazing, and then after a year, I've been gaslighted into thinking that all of our problems are because of me. Yet I've been giving the silent treatment, she's used sex as a transaction, she's withheld sex and affection, she's giving me ultimatums timelines Etc. She knows which buttons to push in order to get a reaction so she can use it against me. She knows now that I'm not going to settle for someone who's emotionally unavailable and not able to connect on a deep level so it's pretty much a done deal in the relationship is over. And of course she's making me look bad as if everything is my fault oh, and I probably stayed in the relationship too long trying to prove reality to this person and everybody else but you know what, it'll never happen. It's not going to make her capable of loving me. And the way I feel about her, to Unconditionally Love Her is to just let her go and hope she can find happiness within herself without feeling like she has to get that from somebody. I tried to explain to her that she really isn't her thoughts, that they're just thoughts and she's just observing them and they're not really who she is. But I just don't think she really understands how to be, she said she meditates but oh, I think her idea of meditation is just distracting her from her negative thoughts. I don't know. I know the trauma she's experienced, I experienced terrible trauma at the age of 10
You can't love her to heal. She needs to love herself. You actually never loved her she is projecting you to you. You fell in love with yourself. There is no self there for her. For her to figure that out she would have to stop looking for supply and let herself collapse become a loser and go through her blackhole to the new her that exists when a blackhole collapses in on it self. You can't do that for anyone. It's actually your ego seeking supply that your this healer, this empath, you are going to save her. You are seeking love through her as well. Love yourself this person is not there. You can't go through the blackhole with her we all go through that alone.
Hi I’m a narc, I don’t want to experience this anymore, I don’t want them to punish me
In the first months with my ex gf (love bombing), she was extremely jealousy and afraid of abandonment. She was trying to control my life and my friends, she asked me so many questions, she was so afraid. And she actually told me multiple times "please don't leave me, I don't know if I can handle it".
But months later, she changed, she was trying really hard and everyday to make me mad at her for any random reason you could imagine, it's like she was self-sabotaging our relationship.. How someone that was afraid of abandonment, suddenly wants to sabotage our relationship? now I understand.
Well, I was caring and helping her with all my love, I told her we could fight together and break any barrier in our life, that I would never abandon her... And then, she tried to destroy my life.. And all I needed to do was just be mad and abuse her feelings to avoid all the destruction? If only I had known this earlier...
This makes a lot of sense. Looks like she can't just leave the relationship in the normal way, she needs to recreate the abandonment by her mother causing pain for both of us.
Its so sad that she lives this way, and I know her history, she did the same to her ex before me, and probably gonna do the same to his new bf.
Prof. Sam Vaknin, do you have any statistics of how long usually a love bombing/devaluation take in average? for example, love bombing = 3 months average, or this is just too personal for each narc?
I’m not a professional in the field. But it takes as long as the Narcissist believes she got you in the palm of her hand. After that…it all goes down the hill. I you try to leave her, the cycle repeats. I speak from experience.
@@Shakespy1979so spot on!
Everything you said line by line happened to me. And the thing is I believed her when she tells me she loves me but we fight every other day. I'm usually not a person of an argument and I was always trying to adjust to her climate to make her happy and make this chaos go away. I thought me giving everything I have can fix her. And after all my efforts, she left and I was confused and devastated. I didn't know she leaving is a blessing for me.
Thank you for sharing this eye-opening information. It's really impressive how I met a person with this profile. The wierd thing is that, this person I met, also shows all the characteristics of a Humiliation wounded person. I don't know if these two psychological conditions are related or not, but that person is defenetly a narcissist.
You just helped me better understand my last relationship.. thank you
WOW! This time a shared-fantasy video under the m o s t powerful microscope! Thank you.
incredibly accurate & helpful today & retrospectively
My first time here, this video has the capacity to change my life.
I must watch it 100 more times.
When you strip away the chaos, irrationality, love and hate this video is ground zero.
The absolute root to how and why my soul had to die. This is it
This needs to be taught to children before junior high school in my opinion. I don’t need coaching to be strong or ways to seek revenge from the covert narcissist, what I’ve endured was a long death and I need to know why?
I’m new here, do you practice in the US?
And now you have helped me to understand my sister, who passed away in January. Sigh. 🙏 thank you. Well, you already explained her when I watched your video on the dark triad.
Sam, the info is amazing! I personally have a narcissistic part and as interesting as the aetiology of that part is in your descriptions, do you have any videos about how psychotherapy for the narcissist progresses?
Yes.
This makes so much sense… I finally got it! Thank you @dr Sam. You are a gift to this world 🌎. I finally understand the madness. I’m free!
This makes so much sense!!! Now I understand every relationship with a narcissist.
Prof Vaknin
Perhaps monetize your channel?
The commercials appear anyway.
Thank you for all the amazing information you provide.
I did recently. UA-cam left me no choice.
You helping me think more.
Thank you
Thank you professor for describing the relationships between my grandparents, my parents, my siblings & various ex narcissistic partners including my most recent ex who I've remained friends with as part of a detached on & off situationship for the last 2 years after the relationship broke down. Your video explains many things I've been confused about throughout my life. Needing to be detached, having healthy boundaries, not letting the crazy making psychodrama get to me, threatening to call the police, actually calling the police when necessary, having to deal with near death experiences, & also crashing into the back of a police car once on my bike, have all been part of my life experience. My life story dealing with narcissistic family members & partners could provide enough material for a text book on psychology. I've even had an ex when I was a student who made a film about me for his final film as a film student who murdered me in the film, then almost murdered me after I left him, after I found out he had betrayed me with multiple other women. He loved me apparently & cried his eyes out because he didn't want me to leave him & thought I didn't mind. I then had to call the police again on him in 3 different cities in the UK & France when he stalked me online 13 years later. It was all because bad mummy left bad daddy when he was 4. My latest narcissistic ex also had bad mummy who used to shout at him & bad daddy triggering bad mummy all the time. When we 1st started seeing each other & the lovebombing stopped & I succumbed to his enmeshment, the devaluation & discard began. He even told me he didn't respect me because I didn't shout at him in the beginning. He also described a traumatic memory in the beginning where he described some other terrible bad ex causing him to drive home under the influence of alcohol one time while he was pursued by the police even though they let him off. He blurred the memory with him abandoning me & driving home in the middle of the night while he was under the influence of alcohol the 2nd time he stayed with me, leaving me asleep. I was also now the bad woman blurred in his traumatized amalgyda brain with all the other bad women mother replacements causing him to drive in the middle of the night under the influence of alcohol even though he didn't have to & could have just slept over at mine peacefully. It turned out later his mum continually shouted at him to wake up for school, instead of buying him an alarm clock, so he had continual anxiety sleeping & would wake up in the middle of the night feeling compelled to rush off somewhere. He also subjected me to narcissistic abuse cycles at 4am repeatedly where he would wake up or wake me up & accuse me continually repeating the same thing. He called me Amber Hurd for 10 hours once for example. After we split up we stayed in touch on & off, & he would alternate between subservient people pleaser & be very sweet but also servile & childlike & immature & boundary blurring, enmeshment style, with not just me, but everyone he met, wherever he went, then he would discard me & ghost me repeatedly after making arrangements with me all the time, then if I tried to communicate with him or negotiate with him, he would then devalue me & berate me for hours calling me names, telling me I was stalking him the same as the woman in baby reindeer even though he had only just arranged to do things with me & had been acting like he was in a relationship with me taking me out to dinner & flirting with me blurring boundaries with me previously. The last time we interacted a few weeks ago he said he wanted to give me a bicycle & a rug one minute, but then when I said I didn't need them, even though I was polite about it, he then spent all day accusing me of making up false allegations against him saying he was a sex offender & a rapist even though I never did, literally all day, maybe 8 hours of it, saying he was a victim & I deserved to go to prison, until eventually I told him if he didn't shut up, I would report him for harassment, because he was making me ill, & made me feel like he was triggering a PTSD response in me, because I've been a victim of violent rape in the past, so found the words triggering. Once I told him I would call the police if he didn't shut up, he calmed down, then did a U-turn & switched & sent me a very polite email saying he hoped I would heal soon, & he had empathy for my pain.
It's interesting actually, when he 1st started seeing me in the beginning, he sent me a picture of himself in a policeman hat, like a fancy dress costume.
When he 1st blocked me on FB after the 1st discard phase once the initial lovebombing was over, I didn't understand why, but then I later found out he'd reverted to trawling through his FB female friends pictures behind my back who were all posting pictures of themselves dressed up in cosplay costume as witches, sending multiple ❤ emojis to them behind my back. They were his female fans / groupies / friends he said, since he was a musician, who all provided the "bad mummy" stereotype image for his rockstar ego persona. He had asked me why I didn't post my picture online, but when I said I didn't want attention from stalkers, evidently that wasn't good enough. Whereas I was expecting a real relationship in real life, as soon as the relationship actually began, the bubble was burst & I was unable to replace the limerent fantasy he had created in his imagination lusting after all the terrible bad evil mummy witch women online but never being satisfied. So there you go. I never really understood his fascination for toxic women, but realised I had turned into the sterile unsexy good mum replacement he no longer respected, while the bad dangerous unreachable online bad mummy witch women online were far more interesting. Now you've explained why he's always pushing me for an argument until I tell him to shut up or I'll call the police or I flip & tell him what a bad boy he is etc. I understand. I feel like I'm still dealing with his inner teenager who never grew up. Interestingly he has a close relationship with his parents but describes his father as antagonistic & his mother continually dismissive shouting at the dad to shut up. He also has 2 different jobs which replicate the 2 split aspects of his persona. 1. He is a cleaner, cleaning toilets for people, the most servile job imaginable, 2. He is a guitarist in multiple bands with an entourage of anonymous clone groupies all showing off at his gigs. This is despite the fact his training is in engineering a skill he is gifted in, but never pursued as a career. He's a vulnerable narcissist so he prefers playing the servile people pleasing victim in his cleaning job, dressed up like a tramp with holes & stains on his clothes, then getting all dressed up to the 9s rockstar style when he's out doing his gigs. I inevitably met him when he was dressed up rockstar style, but then once he'd started the lovebomb & discard phase he no longer dressed up for me. I see him as the scruffy janitor version, like the Hong Kong Phooey cartoon character instead. Anyhow. I'm alive, surviving & living my life nowadays & seeing other people as friends who are more calm & peaceful.
I bought him a t-shirt I'll give him if I see him again, with the words "I'm not arguing, just explaining why I'm right" & just say yes dear & carry on, & not get engaged with him emotionally in future. If we can remain respectful friends, that's fine, no drama necessary. He can keep his witch women groupies to entertain him as bad mummy replacement, & all the best to him. ✌️
All you presented in this video, Professor Vaknin, explains a lot. In my case, he would even ask me, verbally and clearly to become mean and to treat him badly. I didn't take him seriously. So, he did meen it
Knowledge is power. New to this channel. Prof Sam makes so much sense to me and my ex-husbands past and his behaviour.
Hello Mr vaknin,thanks for your sharing the genius mind you have.😊
My narcissistic ex has dysfunctional parents and he's aware of it, goes as far as expressing he doesn't want to turn out like them. Then he goes do the exact same things his father did to his mother that he hated to me. He also manipulates and lies like his mother... to ME. Called him out and he goes into denial and reject the notion he is behaving like his parents in the exact same way he hated.
Not quite sure, how this view fits in to parental (sadomasochistic) abuse of their child?
Love your videos, Professor Vaknin! ❤