Does A Narcissist Know They Are A Narcissist?
The road toward a narcissist knowing they are a narcissist is treacherous, with many twists and turns.
First, there needs to be a spark of awareness. Most narcissists would never bother to learn about narcissism and narcissistic abuse. They might simply know that narcissists brag and think bigly of themselves. The narcissist may admit that perhaps they are like that, but will reason it away: Sure, but what’s wrong with confidence? they might say. Lots of people brag about themselves. Better than being a quiet loser.
As knowledge of narcissism and Cluster B personality disorders spreads through the masses like wildfire, many narcissists might have been called a narcissist by their ex-lovers, friends or family. With this come microscopic cracks in the narcissist’s consciousness, and an awareness of narcissism as a concept breaks through.
Maybe the narcissist runs across an article, or searches up the topic. On the other end of the scale, a narcissist could be a therapist or in the field of mental health. They know all of the terminology and concepts. They might be well-versed in Freud, Jung, Kernberg, CBT, DBT and so on.
Yet no matter what path they take, all a narcissist has at this particular stage is cognitive knowledge about narcissism, and a far-off suspicion that they could be one.
The Narcissist’s Narcissist
The more we learn about narcissism, the more tangled the web becomes. We know there are covert narcissists who lurk in the shadows. We probably do not know they are narcissists. How then can they?
Furthermore, covert narcissists typically fall prey to overt narcissists in a two-person, codependent hierarchy, becoming unadulterated, pure narcissistic supply in the process. If they read up on narcissism, the covert narcissist will quickly see themselves as the victim of narcissistic abuse. Over time, as they delve deeper into the topic, they become more and more convinced of their victimhood. Their narcissism was buried deep to begin with, now another pile of rubble has been tossed on top.
