Is introspection even possible?

Sometimes narcissists go to counselling or therapy because they think their suffering is caused by the lack of glorification they feel entitled to, so the unfair behaviour of people not giving them the praise they deserve is a burden they try to get rid of with professional help. Sometimes they need psychological support for anxiety, depression, 0CD, Paraphilic fantasies and disorder, and narcissistic personality gets exposed in the process. Also, ut happens that they cause problems to others at work and are advised to benefit from an EAP to engage in more compassionate and cooperative behaviour.

When it comes to social interactions with narcissists and being their therapist or counsellor, there are challenges caused by difficult to deal with patterns, because of rigid attitudes and complete faith in some beliefs.

𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑏𝑛𝑜𝑥𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒, their reactions involve a few strategies they generally use. Find some of them:

⁃ 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞

⁃ 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 a little, going through a minimal phase of questioning a bit their ‘own’ behaviour (while focusing on others, seen as  being 85% of the problem) and how it impacts their image to be spotted being arrogant (also they don’t care much about how others look because of them). Which means they will slightly respect the boundaries you made (metaphorically) fluorescent so they can’t miss them. There’s a chance they will keep their distance for a while after being exposed for « believing they could mistreat others and overpass legal structures » with no repercussions!

⁃ 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦 (even feel victimized by the lack of glorification coming from the people, « the peasants ») and keep doing the same mistakes using a different presentation, being proud of themselves and the self-content plus selfishness characterizing their narcissistic behaviour.

⁃ 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 if surrounded by a mom, a partner, and sycophants encouraging them to continue being the way they are (benefiting from the narcissism they flatter to get treats). They see it as “evolutionary” to be able to project two contradictory images at the same time:

• The good one: to possess by being seductive
• The bad one: to possess through evil acts

⁃ 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧s to draw attention to the matters involving their claimed victimization. They keep the light away from the mistakes they recently made, through manipulating people to make them focus on what doesn’t hurt their image.

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