Every Narcissist Is Unique
In the DSM-5 manual, one of the symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder is ‘A belief that he or she is special and unique…’
After years of contemplation, I have finally decided that it is time to give narcissists their time in the sun. To admit that, yes, they are indeed unique —except not in the way they think.
Same Old Narcissist
When people talk about narcissists, there’s a ubiquity to it, as though ‘the narcissist’ is one person. In the collective psyche, ‘the narcissist’ is a bogeyman, someone to despise and avoid. The best spell or weapon we have againt this bogeyman is called ‘no contact’. Otherwise, if you simply stand still and do not transmit any emotions, the narcisisst should lose their scent and leave you alone.
The narcissist’s traits and strategies are well-documented and widely-understood. Selfishness. Manipulation. Fantasy. Dishonesty. Infidelity. Gaslighting. Reactive abuse. Idealise-devalue-discard. The narcissist will suck your emotional life out of you and spit you out when they are done.
A narcissist is so predictable. Once a person’s behaviour fits the label in some way, they seem to lose all uniqueness as a human being. They become the label, and everything that comes with it. Narcissist.
The reality is far more complex. Yet is is not the narcissist’s favourite colour or the way they flick their hair which makes them unique — it is the narcissism itself. More specifically, it is the core trauma behind the narcissismwhich makes the narcissist unique.
A Recipe For Disaster
Complex trauma manifests in various forms, many of which are rarely spoken about in the popular discourse.
