What are the signs of Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
NPD In the beginning …
It all seemingly begins like a normal love story, boy meets girl, it’s all chocolates and roses and compliments, and it seems that you have met “the one”.
In hindsight, though, it quickly showed its unhealthy side.
My story …
It was not until years later that I realised that I was living with an NPD partner. I had decided to stop on my way home and go for a bush walk in a National Park where we had often gone for picnics when we were dating. It was here that the memories of the early days came flooding back, and I cried for I felt “I should have known then”,“I should have seen the signs”, and “How could I have been so stupid”.
It was all small things that, in isolation, may not have been a clue or may have indicated a bad day or actually, now I would say NO, these were signs that this was not normal.
I was always doing something wrong and being reprimanded; I was often embarrassing him, belittling him, and emasculating him …. But, for the life of me, I could not work out how, yet I still apologized and did something for him to make amends (let’s not go there just yet). I realise now that this is part of their insidious plan to gain control and have you second-guessing yourself all the time.
The Jar: We were at a family party, and I was opening a jar. He offered help, and I said thanks, I am all good and proceeded to open the jar. On the way home the tirade came; I had emasculated him in front of everyone by not allowing him to open the jar. Ok, I was young and now confused and yep apologised… WTF
Mushrooms on the BBQ: We were having a picnic, and I had packed what I thought would be some yummy ingredients to make super special burgers for our date. So, he cooked the BBQ because he wanted to and put the burgers together in the way he wanted to. Anyway, the burgers were soggy …. Apparently, I had deliberately sabotaged his cooking by including the mushrooms and now had ruined the day …WTF again. How do I explain to this logic that I had no intent on any level? Apology + payout required.
Fashions on the Field: Being that he was all about image, I went to lengths to try and step up and make a big effort to present at the level he wanted (expected?), and though I like a good party, I like real people. Anyway, the big race day carnival came, and we were going to the big event at the race day with all the somebodies (and yes, some are really nice). So, with the effort I put in, I was pleased when I was picked for Fashions on the Field and assumed that he would be stoked because he could say “his partner” was in it. So, I didn’t win, so it wasn’t good enough, and with that, I was told that he was embarrassed that I could not hold myself up straight enough, and he was embarrassed that I was “hunched” … again, WTF.
The stories are many, but the underlying theme is the same:
What I did :
- Always deliberate
- Always embarrassing
- Often emasculating
And the after-effects were always the same
- Judgement
- Punishment
- Retribution
- The expectation that I apologize and “perform” a makeup act or service
CC xo