The Spouse In A Narcissistic Family
The narcissist’s spouse is their sidekick and most loyal ally, carrying out the narcissist’s menial tasks while helping put on a happy front for the family. The spouse reassures the narcissist of their grandiosity by always remaining at their side, or more accurately, orbiting them. As long as the narcissist knows that their spouse is at their whim, they feel reassured.
Yet the narcissist’s fear of losing control is never far away.
For this reason, the narcissist is careful to isolate their spouse from the outside world through psychological manipulation. Without an external support network, the spouse’s emotional needs remain unmet. This puts the spouse in a tough position; running on empty while caught between their children’s needs and the narcissist’s insatiable hunger for supply and control.
The questions which may arise to an outside observer are: How did they end up in this situation? Why do they put up with it? And above all: How do they find the strength to endure such overwhelming torture?
A Tragic Exile
The narcissist’s spouse possesses something in their core which acts as both their superpower and eternal prison: An inherent sense of badness; of being irredeemably flawed and unworthy of love and respect.
