Narcissists, Manipulators etc will substitute themselves to a victim after the manipulator has removed the thing or person the victim genuinely needed to function normally. For this we’ll look at two case studies to illustrate this.
Original post here: https://wordpress.com/post/icucss.wordpress.com/3336
By Narcissists it is meant as those with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPDs).
So say a victim, gains, or is starting to gain, a new healthy individual in their life that has the potential to genuinely help them and move them onto better things. Or, a victim already has a healthy individual in their life who is keeping them in a healthy state of being. In either or similar cases the Narcissist (NPD) will seek to remove the healthy individual and then substitute themselves as the best option for the victim.
By victim I mean they have likely already suffered from abuse or have grown up in an abusive environment. This may not always be the case however but the important thing to note is the victim is in need, needs something better or needs specific individuals to keep them in a healthy state of being.
Why would a Narcissist do this?
A victim could be someone loving, empathic and wanting to love, help or give to another genuine person. The Narcissist believes that they should have that and therefore must persuade their victim that they (the Narcissist) is the genuine healthy option. A Narcissist has no concept of healthy emotions, genuine empathy or the consequences of negative actions. They see the results of negative actions, but do not emotionally feel them as if those actions are affecting them as someone empathic would.
A Narcissist will do whatever it takes to get the empathic victim to love, care and give to them; which includes hurting the victim and others. A Narcissist more or less believes they have the right to love, care, respect etc without giving anything genuine in return.
They want it and believe they should have it without having to work for it.
How would the Narcissist do it?
The usual ways. Love bombing, being overly helpful, rushing to get in their first and overwhelming the victim with what seems like over concern and care. This also is to distract the victim away from the genuine person they originally had their eye on. It also is to create a divide between the victim and the genuine healthy individual i.e. the victim sees the Narc as the overwhelming perfect candidate and no longer sees the genuine healthy individual. The Latter also sees the victim as no longer interested and will likely believe they no longer have a chance and pull away.
Sometimes the victim is too engrossed in the genuine healthy individual and therefore the Narcissist will try a number of methods to get one or both to pull away. Their methods could include running smear campaigns, trying to setup the rival with other options or ensuring they have a lot less, or no further contact, with the victim. They may even go so far as to manipulate the rival into believing the victim is not worth it and better options are available. The point being to make the rival lose interest in the victim.
Narcissists also mimic the behaviours of genuine individuals, though there’s no genuine intent in the mimic. They do this to convince a victim/target that the Narcissist is genuine. The victim generally finds out later the behaviours/intents weren’t sincere because they never actually lead anywhere. By lead I mean that genuine behaviours lead to a genuine outcome. Fake/Mimicked behaviours have no outcome, or not any sort of positive outcome. The outcomes will leave the victim deprived rather than fulfilled. Just like empty promises, they are nothing and contain nothing therefore nothing comes of them because they were never real in the first place.
Once separation has occurred the victim will be needy and desperate as they’ve just lost what they genuinely required to remain healthy. The Narcissist will then try to get closer to the victim and appear to provide what the victim needs. But close eyed victims will note the Narcissist will never fully commit to the victim and always hold back on what the victim genuinely requires. This is to ensure the victim is hooked to the Narcissist and in the belief that the victim will get what they need gradually and over time if they just become closer and do what they can for the Narcissist. The reality of course being that the Narcissist has no intention of giving the victim what they genuinely need, and the Narcissist cannot anyway because they’re not a genuine healthy individual that’s loving, empathic and giving. But they have to ensure the victim believes the Narcissist is genuine otherwise the victim would pull away and no longer support them.
Case Studies
These are based on actual events but the names have been changed to keep the confidentiality of those involved. The information gathered is based on interviews with those involved in the events.
Case Study 1
In this study we have Darren and Paul. Darren has lived an abusive life and as a result it has affected his confidence which means he finds it hard to push himself and succeed as an individual. However, with the right healthy people around him he’s able to succeed with more confidence and give back to those who genuinely help him.
Darren reaches a point in his life where he feels dead and needs something new to set him on a better path that will allow his creative talents to shine. Whilst doing some volunteering he meets Paul. Paul is an artist of sorts and works in the entertainment business. Paul uses his creative talents to enhance whatever he’s involved in.
Darren feels naturally drawn to Paul, but in the beginning cannot see why. Paul is also curious about Darren. They don’t talk much but have an understanding towards each other. They naturally gel. They start to interact more. It is going well.
Enter Barry the Narcissist. Barry was the one who has supported Darren and actually introduced him to his current volunteering. Barry feels a sort of ownership over Darren though Darren has never felt as closely connected to Barry as others. Barry does talk a lot whilst Darren does not. Barry seems to get by via talking and being verbal whilst Darren does it through what he does and the input he makes into whatever activity he’s engaged in. Paul is also pretty similar in this way.
Barry notes the interest Darren has in Paul and vice versa. During a volunteering role, Paul sets up Darren to do some work. This feels very positive to both. Paul leaves Darren to get on with it with the intent to return later to help with the more difficult parts.
Suddenly Barry appears and immediately starts to help Darren with those difficult parts. Darren is confused and a bit taken aback. He didn’t ask nor expect Barry to help. It wasn’t actually Barry’s project, it was Paul that was co-ordinating things. Darren does have a feeling that this isn’t right and it should be Paul doing this. It’s like an early warning sign but he doesn’t understand what’s going on at this point. Barry was never supposed to be involved in this aspect of the volunteering so his sudden helpful appearance seems odd to Darren; particularly since Barry has never shown this type of enthusiasm towards helping Darren prior to this.
Darren feels a sense of loss. It doesn’t feel right. It should have been Paul performing that role.
Over the coming weeks, Barry shows more of an interest in Darren. Darren still has a connection with Paul and they do occasionally interact but something seems missing. That sense of loss. Something isn’t right. Darren feels Barry is around and interacting with the project a lot more than before but still can’t shake the connection with Paul.
Darren notes that Barry is actively vocalising more and more about how involved he is in the overall project, particularly making it clear to Darren. He emphasises the special relationship he has with other higher up members seems to know more about internal frictions going on. Darren doesn’t really understand it at the time but seems surprised that Barry has so much control and input. He sees Barry as the one to go to whenever he has an idea. However Darren does notice that any idea that might involve Paul doesn’t go anywhere or Barry isn’t very enthusiastic about it.
Darren was able to explore the project more and saw artistic creations Paul had setup. There were interesting to Darren but since there was no longer the same communication with Paul he didn’t feel able to ask him about it. The creations were more in tune with what inspired Darren.
Later there was a fallout with Barry and the project which meant that both Barry and his volunteers had to leave which included Darren. This also unfortunately meant that Darren was no longer able to have any chance of interacting with Paul again and even Barry never mentioned him again or was involved with others with the project. Darren didn’t think anything odd about this as it was happening but years later on reflection he could see something wasn’t right.
Transcript from Darren (although Darren is his pseudo name for confidentiality purposes):
“I could never see it properly at the time. I knew something was wrong, I felt some loss but didn’t understand what was going on. I felt hurt and what was filling the gap wasn’t right. I felt I should have been interacting with Paul but it was like Barry was always there now virtually in charge yet before he was like a minor player. Later Paul seemed a bit distant like he too experienced some loss. He seemed to try and substitute a family member to fill that gap but you could see it wasn’t working. He just seemed to fold away in on himself.”
“I spent more time engaging in projects with Barry but they never really led anywhere. They either were proposals that he never followed through or when he did follow through and the projects were successful he was not actively pushing for a re-occurrence. I find myself now pondering why nothing seemed to go anywhere when I worked with Barry. I have wondered if he’s jealous and doesn’t want me to succeed because it could potentially take me away from him. He’s the sort of person that doesn’t seem to progress anywhere himself. He never seems to advance but just seems stuck in the same position. Nothing really changes. But it’s as if he wants those he chooses to work with to remain in the same situation as him.”
“I should have noted it before. Many warning signs came about even after the volunteering incident. I just wasn’t making the connection. For example, I’d feel a close connection with another volunteer and he suggested we work together on a project as it’d do us both good. But when I mentioned it to Barry there was always some reason why it wasn’t a good idea or he wanted me doing something else. He was actually very controlling Barry but I never realised it ’til much later. Again I felt a loss with that volunteer as I wasn’t allowed to work with him. I’m not sure if Barry had said anything to him but he didn’t respond the same after like I was suddenly not to be trusted. Something didn’t feel right. Had Barry made something up about me to him???”
“Another incident later. I was becoming close to yet another volunteer. The effect was even rubbing off on him as he felt more confident doing things he hadn’t done in ages after interacting with me. Barry seemed to like him at first but seemed almost hostile or on edge when he found us interacting. Once again suddenly I wasn’t able to work with this volunteer again and for me the loss felt a lot worse. I did ask Barry what had become of the volunteer but Barry said he wasn’t feeling too good. But it was odd because he just disappeared off the radar.”
“It seemed every time I felt a close connection with someone else Barry became really controlling and I could never understand why. The events that followed were always the same. Some event happened whereby I wasn’t able to work or interact with the other person and it was Barry who was in the controlling position to bring it about. What’s more Barry ALWAYS controlled the communication with us. Unless I was very lucky to share contact details I remained cut off from these good connections and Barry was the only one who had communication with them.”
Analysis of Case Study 1
Barry certain follows a pattern of Narcissistic behaviour. He prevents interaction of others with the victim and effectively isolates the victim from anyone with whom he had a good connection. More specifically Barry was preventing Darren having any really positive and beneficial interactions with others and only allow interactions with those whom Darren felt no natural connection to. This type of isolation means the victim they have no better behaviour to compare to that of the Narcissist and thus remain with the Narcissist because they cannot experience anything better. They’d have no reason to get themselves out of that situation because there doesn’t seem to be anything better outside of it.
Also typical Narcissist behaviour is controlling communication between the victim and others. This way the Narcissist can ensure no positive communication occurs between genuine connections and the victim. It also allows the Narcissist to give false information about the victim to others to ensure they stay away or become fearful and disrespectful of the victim. Typical Smear Campaign tactic to further isolate the victim and ensure the victim becomes dependent on ONLY the Narcissist.
It also means that when the victim is feeling depressed there is no one who can genuinely help them because all communication with positive people has been cut and the victim will remain in the depressed state with the Narcissist occasionally throwing out breadcrumbs to make the victim believe the Narcissist is the only one who genuinely cares for them.
There are of course warning signs and in this case study they were clearly there early on. Some victims can spot them but cannot make the connection as to what they really are; at least not until it’s too late. If they’re spotted and recognised early on then it gives the victim a chance to do something, but then they will naturally no longer be the victim but in control of their life and who they connect with. Though the first step to regaining control is to recognise the signs and start to question if the person being so helpful is really the person they’re claiming to be. A good sign is if you feel closer connections to people other than the Narcissist and what interacting with the Narcissist leads to. Does being with a person lead to stagnation or prosperity. If it feels like you’re stagnating or trapped then it’s a good sign the person claiming to help you is not genuinely on your side.
Another important point to make is many of these victims sometimes don’t need someone to help them through hard times but they need the positive people around them to prevent them falling in the first place. When they’re around people who genuinely care for them they generally don’t fall as they feel supported and feel life is worth living. Genuine people mean they can also input genuine emotions into genuine connections and feel an immediate appreciation. With a Narcissist there is none of that and the victim often falls into a state of depression because there is no one in their lives to make life worth living. Also any care or emotions they put into a Narcissist is not felt nor appreciated. To the Narcissist it is more an annoyance or an irritation. Oh the Narcissist likes to be served but they do not appreciate genuine emotions when they’re aimed at them.
Case Study 2
This is an interesting one. In this case the victim already has a positive interaction with someone genuine. The Narcissist comes on the scene later and decides they want what the victim is giving to the genuine connection and then proceeds to break them up. There’s no happy ending in this one for anyone involved including, ironically, the Narcissist. A case in which the Narcissist thought they had everything in their grasp but actually destroyed everything due to their interfering.
Once again we’ve changed the names to protect the identities of those involved.
We have Pete. He has been an abuse victim himself with his family being the main abusers. He was brought up in this environment with an abusive mother. He got on with his father but the father left early. After Pete’s father left he suffered nothing but physical and psychological abuse from his Narcissistic mother. His siblings also abused him to a lesser degree and he was never allowed to venture out of the family home without being accompanied or go out with positive connections/friends. He knew nothing but a life of abuse from his family and imprisonment.
Later in his early twenties he joined a self defense class to make him feel more confident. It’s there he met Richard. Richard was immediately sympathetic to Pete and for Pete it was like the family he never had. Pete never mentioned he’d been abused but Richard always seemed to know how to treat him. It was a positive healthy connection. In turn Pete looked out Richard and ensured he was always OK after engaging in self defense methods.
They didn’t interact outside of self defense classes generally, though there were odd times as the whole club would go out for occasional meals and drinks out. It was clear Richard did want further outside interaction or wanted to be doing similar things as Pete. It seemed like a fatherly or brotherly relationship they had going. This good relationship went on for about two years. Then the Narcissist appeared.
The pseudo name of the Narcissist is John. He came on the scene later and appeared to work in the same environment as Richard but not in the same department.
Changes were slow and Pete was slow to pickup on what was happening. First Richard was spending more time away from the club because of work. Though this seemed understandable from a certain perspective, there were later things that occurred. For example, Richard seemed on one occasion to become impatient with Pete, not angry, just a statement he made. He said “no one is going to do it for you”. This confused Pete and he was taken aback by it. It felt odd. The behaviour wasn’t right and there’d been no other warning signs that Richard was impatient with him previously. To Pete it felt like Richard was disappointed in him. But as to why it seemed odd as he’d seemed genuinely caring before. It made no sense to Pete and he didn’t understand what was going on. It was as if Richard had been led to believe that Pete was not pulling his weight or deliberately not trying as if Pete was suddenly a drag.
Shortly after, John appeared at the club. He was a bit lower down self defense experience wise. It was actually questionable as to why he was working with Richard and Pete at all at his low level but Pete did not see it as questionable at the time.
John seemed quite interested and enthusiastic about Richard. Again Pete didn’t sense anything really wrong with that as different friends interacting wasn’t a problem for him. Yet, something at the back of his mind was sensing something wasn’t right somewhere about John. He was like a little too inquiring towards someone he barely knew. The stare was there but there was something amiss with the eyes. Like the intent wasn’t genuine. As if the interest was all show but the intent was to gain information. Though at the time Pete couldn’t really grasp that, only that something felt off.
Then John started asking more personal questions. They didn’t feel right. Richard’s stance changed and he didn’t feel comfortable releasing that sort of information in front of Pete. He was sort of keeping one eye on Pete as he tried to answer John slowly. Richard seemed nervous as if he was worried as to how Pete would react.
John suddenly asked a more personal question. Pete sensed something was wrong and tried to support Richard. But Richard answered and it was an answer that put Pete into shock. Pete didn’t elaborate onto what it was but it had the effect that Pete lost a lot of trust in Richard. Pete felt a disconnection, like he was alone partially. He’d lost a lot of the family connection he thought he had.
Looking back Pete thought it was deliberate and John was acting very strange. Was like the intent was to break his connection with Richard, and although it didn’t completely it severely damaged it.
As time went on, Pete noticed things starting to change rapidly with Richard. Richard started to lose trust in Pete and seemed to believe Pete had sexual intentions towards him, which wasn’t the case. It wasn’t clear at the time where Richard got this idea but later it became obvious where the lies came from.
Later Richard wasn’t spending as much time at self defense but John was. John seemed strangely keen to work with Pete but Pete just felt resentment towards him; though at the time Pete couldn’t understand why he felt such resentment. Pete kept telling himself “I must be jealous of John and Richard being good friends, I mustn’t think this way and accept John.” But all Pete could feel was this growing resentment towards John. Pete didn’t physically harm him but was struggling to understand John. John just seemed to find it all funny and kept smiling at Pete. All Pete could feel was him losing his connection with Richard and somehow John was responsible. It felt like John was trying to substitute himself in place of Richard but Pete could feel the connection with John just wasn’t right. John had no genuine care or concern and just found his actions funny.
John actually started being slightly suggestive towards Pete. Pete found his questions odd. It was as if John had assumed Pete had wanted a certain type of relationship with Richard and John was pushing that towards Pete with the expectation that Pete would want that with John.
Over time John started pushing the idea towards others that him and Pete had something going on between them and that they were being flirty. This actually pushed others away from Pete as they got the idea that Pete had sexual intentions towards every other man he interacted with. It was also clear by this point why Richard thought Pete was after him sexually, though even then Pete couldn’t quite make the connection. John had been openly running a smear campaign against Pete that he was sexually interested in any other man he worked with.
This of course had the negative affect that no one would support Pete anymore in the way he needed because they believed he would prey on them. It left Pete very alone and isolated and once again open to abuse by others. Gradually John left the club as it was becoming clear Pete wasn’t responding to his sexual goadings.
This had a further negative affect that it caught the attention of an out of control club bully who abused Pete from then on. No one would stop it out of fear Pete would prey on them. When Pete eventually stopped the bully the instructors actually turned on him and accused him as being the one out of control whilst the bully was given the best treatment. It was as if they really wanted Pete to leave and when that didn’t work they simply turned on him.
Strangely Richard came back for a short time and once again worked with Pete. Seemed the trust had been partially restored. Unfortunately Richard announced he was leaving the area due to work commitments. Seems he only came back to spend the rest of his time left training with Pete once again.
But after Richard left, things went rapidly downhill for Pete. His club didn’t support him and he got abused. Few wanted to work with him apart from other abusers. Even when he protected club members later on due to an accident they didn’t thank him, they just saw him as an embarrassment.
John caused a lot of damage for Pete. First he tried to get Richard and Pete to separate which partly succeeded, then he ran a smear campaign openly that Pete was sexually interested in Richard and other men. John also openly put forward to everyone that he and Pete had something sexual going on between them. It seems John’s plan was to get Richard away from Pete, which would leave Pete alone and vulnerable and then John would substitute himself in place of Richard.
The plan failed in every way due to John completely misreading the connection that occurred between Richard and Pete. No one got what they wanted and it only caused more distrust. Even John didn’t get what he wanted and somehow Pete always knew John was somehow responsible.
Transcript from Pete:
“It was a strange time, though it began really positive. For the first time I had the family I’d never had. I was happy, I was genuinely happy for the first time in my life and it felt wonderful. It’s hard to explain how that feels after suffering years of nothing but abuse and disregard. You would have thought that having never known happiness you would not know what it genuinely feels like when it is there. But the truth is you DO recognise it and to feel it to the full. It’s funny but, although as I child being abused was normal for me, I still understood it hurt and wasn’t right. I never experienced real happiness but when I did at that club I knew it instantly.”
“It took me a while to fully understand what was going on with John. I thought he was after my friend and trying to push me away but actually he was after me. But I knew he wasn’t like Richard, he didn’t have that family feel to him, just this empty nature with a smile. Although in the end, no one won. Even John didn’t win due to him misreading what was actually going on. It tells a lot about him really because I have to ask how many other things has he misread in his life and ended up with nothing? But how many other connections has he destroyed in the process? How much hurt has he caused?”
“It had a lasting effect on my life. I did have several suicide attempts later due to having no support from people during a particularly difficult situation. And that was all thanks to John and his smears against me. Yes, I came out of it and survived. But at what cost. And how many more John’s are their out their causing misery for others just because they want something through manipulation of others?”
“John saw what I had, what I was giving to others, what I was giving to others, care and empathy, and he just wanted me to give it to him. So he made me vulnerable and desperate and isolated. What he failed to notice though that he wasn’t actually giving me anything I needed so I simply wasn’t able to give him what he wanted. And so in the end, everyone lost. We all came out losers.”
Analysis of Case Study 2
Case 2 is similar to Case 1 in that once again a Narcissist tried to substitute themselves for someone else, but in Case 2 it ended a lot quicker due to the Narcissist not seeing what was actually going on and how the victim was really connecting with others. It also seems, on some deep level, the victim (Pete) saw through the Narcissist and understood the Narcissist could never give him what he genuinely needed. Probably a case of the Narcissist being so overconfident and believing the victim to be something he was not. This blinded the Narcissist to what was really happening and resulted in not the outcome they had hoped.
Unfortunately, although the Narcissist wasn’t believed to be genuine by the victim, much emotional damage and a huge loss of trust was incurred for all parties involved. This is what I mean by the Narcissist having no concept of genuine emotions. That cannot see the consequences of the damage they do at an emotional level, in that they don’t empathically connect with the damaging emotions they bring out. They see the consequences of the damage but not at any genuine emotional level, hence why they go on to do more damage with little care about the harm they’re causing to others. They just see it as a loss or gain for them depending on the outcome. If they lose, they simply move onto another target but leaving a trail of psychological damage behind with no intent to repair the damage they have done.
It highlights a very important point. They are blind to the reality of situations. They see only their view of how things should be and not how others see or experience it. Because of this blindness they do not see their interference as being negative, they just see it as a means to an end without consequences. Because how can they see negative emotional consequences if they are blind to them?
- They don’t see Person A has a good connection with Person B which makes them both happy so this should be respected.
- Instead they see Person A as giving love, care and empathy to Person B but they could give that to anyone therefore they (the Narcissist) can easily substitute themselves in place of Person B. Person A will see no different and will simply accept the Narcissist as if they were Person B and give all the love and care to the Narcissist because Person A is so blind they won’t see the difference. The reality of course is that Narcissist is the one who is blind.
Interesting — The Narcissist will accuse others of being what they are themselves as a form of projection, however the Narcissist also assumes their victims are psychologically blind when in fact it is the Narcissist themselves who are Psychologically and Emotionally blind. Another form of projection but also de-flection. Deflection in the case that they are deflecting it from their own subconscious that they are the ones who are psychologically blind. A way of trying to run away from their own flaws by pretending that others have the flaws instead. And it is this blindness that can lead to their downfall as shown in Case Study 2.
Conclusions
Narcissists only see themselves as genuine and real. They don’t see others as individuals with individual personalities, emotions and individual needs. They believe that what is best for the Narcissist will also will be best for everyone else. The only reality for them is the Narcissist and anyone deviating from that is flake. Hence why they try to bully others into being more like the Narcissist. They’re trying to bully and attack what they see as a fake personality and bring out what they see as the REAL personality which is the Narcissist. To a Narcissist only the Narcissist’s personality is the REAL personality.
This is the reason why they believe they can substitute themselves in place of others. To them the Narcissist is the only one who is real and therefore the only ones deserving of care and empathy. So they might see Person A loving Person B and be thinking: “Why are you giving to Person B??? Person B isn’t a real person. ‘I’ am a real person and you should therefore ONLY be giving it to me. Just watch, I can kick Person B out of the way, substitute myself, and you won’t notice anything different.”
So the Narcissist does just that and doesn’t care about the emotional consequences to others because others are not real and therefore any emotions they claim to feel are not real either to a Narcissist. This is why a Narcissist gets angry at someone crying and bullies them into stopping because the Narcissist doesn’t believe their crying is real. To them any emotions expressed by others are seen as fake should be treated as such and ignored. So any emotions they see as fake are ignored. Any damage that they do which causes what they see as fake emotions, the Narcissist just ignores and carries on because they think they are fake. Some Narcissists even laugh at people crying or showing emotion because they believe it’s so funny that they’re pretending and trying to fool the Narcissist into believing it’s real.
The Narcissist also cannot grasp connections between different individuals. These too are seen as fake by the Narcissist and because they’re so strong in their beliefs that they are the only real connections, they’ll do whatever it takes to stamp out what they believe are fake connections. In their heads, fake connections are depriving a Narcissist of their needs and must be removed at all costs. This is why they can be so determined and manipulative. They’re doing it to save themselves from being deprived and damaged, or so they believe.
The Narcissist’s View:
- The Narcissist = Real and the only Truth with the only Genuine Needs and Emotions — Protect at all costs!!!
- Everyone Else = Fake, Lies, Not Real, Fake Emotions, Fake Needs, Fake Wants — Destroy and stamp out at any cost!!!
Also a reason why they don’t take No for an answer. They believe that anyone saying no to a Narcissist must be wrong because a Narcissist is Real, Truth and Genuine and no one should be saying No to that. So they’ll do anything they can to coerce and bully that person to change that No into a Yes.
And of course, the Narcissist is also Psychologically blind. Blind because they cannot see why someone would reject them or not accept them as a substitute, as shown in Case Study 2. If a Narcissist leaves someone, that is fine but if someone leaves a Narcissist there will be hell to pay. It’s like the ultimate insult. They’re almost in a Godlike state where they believe no one would ever leave a God or a superior being. The Narcissist believes they are perfection and therefore anyone who dares leave them must be imperfect and thereby made to learn the error of rejecting that perfection.
In many cases unfortunately, there are people who believe their love bombing, believe their Narcissist is the real genuine thing and easily reject the genuine connection over the fake one. Some eventually realise this is not the case, as seen in Case Study 1. But also like in Case Study 1, there are some who will spot the early warning signs and feel the loss of genuine connections when they are replaced with fake ones. Some will also know something is up from the start as in Case Study 2 but may not understand exactly what the issue is. For those more lucky would be to recognise what is occurring straight away and counteract it. It depends on the individual concerned.
Learning to recognise the Narcissist’s methods and understanding their thinking patterns may help counteract and/or avoid the emotional damage they cause. More importantly, sharing this knowledge and educating others may help potential victims avoid such damage in future and prevent such negative consequences, such as those shown in the Case Study examples presented in this article.
