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    The Powerful Effect of Love Bombing and Intermittent Reinforcement on Children of Narcissists

    Photo by Kiselev Andrey Valerevich. Standard License via Shutterstock. What is love bombing? Love bombing is a process of grooming in which a predator uses flattery, praise and the promise of a supreme alliance to fulfill their own agendas. By love bombing their victims, abusers are able to persuade their targets to fulfill their requests and desires. Love bombing is not only a tool used by covert manipulators to exploit their victims, it is also used in cults to ensure loyalty to the cult leader. In fact, there is much overlap between the behavior of cults and the abuse cycle of an abuser and his or her victim. While anyone…

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    The Histrionic Female Has an Insatiable and Destructive Desire for Attention

    Photo Credit: Pandorabox. Standard License via Shutterstock. The Histrionic Female and the Narcissistic Female I am often asked what the differences are between a histrionic person and a narcissistic one. Since Histrionic Personality Disorder tends to be diagnosed more commonly among females than males, I will be focusing on histrionic females for the purposes of this article. While they share similarities, the histrionic female’s dramatic theatricality, excessive emotionality, and overreliance on their sexuality and appearance as points of power can be distinguishing factors from the narcissistic female. At first glance, it can be difficult to differentiate between a narcissistic female and a histrionic one. Both narcissists and those with HPD…

  • manipulation,  red flags

    5 Ways Pathologically Envious Narcissists Undermine Your Success

    This article was originally published on Psych Central on August 14th, 2017. Pathological envy happens to be related to one of the diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Narcissists are said to be envious of others and yet believe others to be envious of them; they will often project this trait onto others and make their victims feel like the insecure ones. This type of envy, while common among narcissists, isn’t just limited to malignant narcissists. Yet narcissistic abusers are more likely to be driven by their envy to engage in destructive behavior towards others in a way that is chronic, impactful and harmful. When gone…

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    11 Signs You’re the Victim of Narcissistic Abuse

    Photo Credit: By Dzhulbee. Standard License via Shutterstock. Imagine this: your entire reality has been warped and distorted. You have been mercilessly violated, manipulated, lied to, ridiculed, demeaned and gaslighted into believing that you are imagining things. The person you thought you knew and the life you built together have been shattered into a million little fragments. Your sense of self has been eroded, diminished. You were idealized, devalued, then shoved off the pedestal. Perhaps you were even replaced and discarded multiple times, only to be ‘hoovered’ and lured back into an abuse cycle even more torturous than before. Maybe you were relentlessly stalked, harassed and bullied to stay with…

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    5 Powerful Healing Benefits of Being Single After Abuse

    After the ending of a toxic relationship, survivors may be tempted to fill the void and avoid confronting their pain by reentering another relationship quickly. Sometimes, survivors are able to find an empathic, caring partner shortly after the ending of their abusive relationship. Unfortunately, what happens more often than not is that they end up with another emotional predator who resembles the same one they just left, retriggering and cementing the same abandonment wounds that they attempted to escape in the first place. Or, because they haven’t taken the time to address their wounding and become self-reliant, they unconsciously push away any healthy partners that come their way. For any…

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    These 5 Self-Care Practices Can Save Your Life After Emotional Abuse

    When survivors of emotional abuse go No Contact (or Low Contact if co-parenting) with their abuser, the journey to healing is just beginning. Victims of psychological violence are likely to still be reeling from the symptoms of trauma, including but not limited to: reoccurring flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, dissociation, depression and pervasive feelings of low self-worth. They may even have urges to check up on or reconnect with their abuser due to the intense trauma bonds that developed during the abuse cycle. Along with support from a trauma-informed counselor, ongoing practices of self-care to supplement therapy are powerful ways to begin tending to the mind, body and spirit after abuse. While…

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    5 Eerie Signs You May Be Dating a Psychopath

    “Psychopath and sociopath are pop psychology terms for what psychiatry calls an antisocial personality disorder.” – Dr. John M. Grohol, Differences Between a Psychopath and a Sociopath On the higher end of the narcissistic spectrum lies Antisocial Personality Disorder; a disorder that carries with it the symptoms of narcissism along with law-breaking behavior and a long-standing pattern of disregarding the rights of others. Psychopaths have also been shown by studies to have structural abnormalities in parts of the brain that deal with empathy, remorse and moral reasoning (Oliveira-Souza et. al, 2008; Gregory, 2012). Dr. Samenow (2011), author of Inside the Criminal Mind, notes that it can be difficult to distinguish…

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    Are Male Narcissists Also Misogynists?

    Are male narcissists more likely to be misogynistic? A study suggests that heterosexual narcissistic men tended to lash out more often at heterosexual women than any other group (including homosexual men and women). Dr. Keiller (2010), lead author of the study, writes: The present study suggests that heterosexual men’s narcissism is linked to an adversarial and angry stance toward heterosexual women more than toward other groups. Although narcissists may want to maintain feelings of superiority and power over all people, narcissistic heterosexual men are particularly invested in subordinating heterosexual women. While narcissists and their victims can be of any gender and sexual orientation and women can certainly be misogynistic as…

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    What It’s Like to Be a Complex Trauma Survivor of Narcissistic Abuse

    “Many abused children cling to the hope that growing up will bring escape and freedom. But the personality formed in the environment of coercive control is not well adapted to adult life. The survivor is left with fundamental problems in basic trust, autonomy, and initiative. She approaches the task of early adulthood――establishing independence and intimacy――burdened by major impairments in self-care, in cognition and in memory, in identity, and in the capacity to form stable relationships. She is still a prisoner of her childhood; attempting to create a new life, she reencounters the trauma.” ― Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political…

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    Childhood Bullying is a Form of Narcissistic Abuse

    Childhood Bullying as a Part of Complex Trauma I have spoken with countless survivors who report not only having endured narcissistic abuse by parents and spouses, but also by school-aged peers. Childhood bullying can cause PTSD and can even be a part of the development of Complex PTSD. As Dr. Babbel (2011), a psychologist who specializes in trauma and depression, notes in her article, “Child Bullying’s Consequence: Adult PTSD“: “Interestingly, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was traditionally considered to be a disorder that arose from a single traumatic incident. However, in recent years, experts have begun to identify a second definition for PTSD that allows for the victims of repeated traumatizing…