Tag: Narcissistic Abuse Cycle

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Stages Of A Narcissistic Relationship

Stages Of A Narcissistic Relationship – Love Bombing

The Love Bombing Phase is characterized by intense efforts to impress you. Giving you lots of attention. Maybe even buy you gifts. They actively pursue you, call you frequently, and are very attentive to your needs. Going above and beyond to help you. They love everything about you, flaws and all. You can do no wrong.

They seem so perfect, you wonder how lucky you are to find someone so loving and caring. You share the same interests.

You are surrounded by love, attention, and admiration. You have never felt so happy and cherished.

You are put on a pedestal.


Stage Two The Honeymoon Phase – Idealization

The Honeymoon Phase of A Narcissistic Relationship
Photo by Asad Photo Maldives on Pexels.com

Never Felt This Way Before!

Yes, it is exactly how it sounds! You both seem to be totally and completely in love with one another. Time apart feels like an eternity. You call each other or find that they call constantly. Your phone rings nonstop as they try to reach you, but you think it’s so sweet that no one else has cared so much about you and your day.

But, that’s ok, right.?

NO!

This is a form of manipulation, not love or genuine concern. A huge Red Flag!

Stage Three – Devalue

This is when the Narcissist has you feel awful about yourself, with very low self-esteem, to the point where they will give you a compliment, but you have trouble believing them. Especially when they give you backhanded compliments, which are no more than insults.

They act like they care less and less about you, giving the silent treatment, pushing you away.

The once sweet, caring, and loving person is beginning to resent you, and their mask has started to slip. You feel confused and at fault, but this is also part of their game.

They have a backup supply waiting for them.

Stage Four – Discard

Since they have someone waiting for them, whether it be someone new, an ex. It does not matter.

This situation is the most cruel and seems to have been planned from the start of the relationship. You find yourself at your most vulnerable, feeling broken and lacking self-worth. They used you until you became just a shell of your former self. They took what they could from you, everything that made you who you are. Everything they took advantage of. Now that you are no longer of any use to them, you are left feeling confused and shattered.

This is when the mask slips; gone is the kind, caring expression. You are now looking at the face of evil.

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Hiding Behind The Mask

Nothing is as it appears

It is the beginning of the relationship, and everything is going great. You spend time together, and interestingly enough, you share the same interests. What could be more perfect?

It appears to those around you the relationship is moving very fast, but they do not tell you that. This is a form of control, but is misunderstood by you as them to appear loving and caring, far from it!

As the relationship progresses you meet their family and friends and all appears to be going well, aside from the subtle insults disguised as compliments. For those who have experienced this, you totally understand what I mean.

They will comment on how you are dressing, how you act, and your appearance. These are also the things that they seemed to like about you.

The insults become increasingly hurtful and hateful behind closed doors. In front of others, they look playful and are thought to be cute or funny.

Once the mask begins to slip, they can no longer control you and probably already have someone else. They will discard you at the worst possible time, remember, this was the plan all along.

If you decide to leave them, never tell them your plan. They will use whatever leverage they have to guilt you into staying. Get help, go no contact, if you can, and go as far away as possible. Somewhere safe.

They are not sorry, they will never change, and the problem is never addressed, instead, you will be blamed again. They only get worse and so does the abuse.

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Pets and The Narcissist

Unconditional Love? Not From A Narcissist

Pets offer their owners love, protection, and loyalty and only want that in return.

They are very instinctive. They can tell when something is not right. Some have been known to sense that their owners are sick, and they are protective when they sense danger.

The Narcissist appears caring and concerned and helps you take care of the pet until the novelty wears off and the responsibility falls on you.

This is usually when you see the mask of the Narcissist begin to slip, you are focusing the attention on your pet, not the Narcissist who acts like a child having a tantrum. They get angry because they are not the main focus of your attention.

They start to isolate and ignore you. This causes confusion and worry. You wonder if you once again have done something wrong to cause their strange behavior. This tactic leaves you feeling like you are walking on eggshells.

You did nothing wrong.

This is Narcissistic Abuse

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Narcissistic Cycle of Abuse

The Endless Game

LoveBombing

You are pursued and showered with attention, maybe even gifts or compliments. It feels like a dream come true. Where has this person been? You are put on a pedestal. The relationship accelerates, but you are, unfazed.

GasLighting

They claim this tactic as a way to question your sanity when reminded of something they either said or promised. “I never said that”, or “You are crazy!” This leaves you completely confused.

DeValue

Everything they were once attracted to, they hate. The way you dress and your appearance, are criticized. Leaving you filled with self-doubt and very low self-esteem. Constantly second-guessing yourself. You wonder what you did wrong, and why they are treating you this way, so you change after apologizing. You notice that you are always tired, and forgetful, the aches and pains that you never had before. This is your body taking a toll on all of the abuse. This is something that you are unaware of at the moment.

Discard

This is the part that I would not wish on anyone. It is the most painful. This was their plan from the beginning, gaining their trust, knowing everything they can about you, so they can use that against you later.

You are blamed for the breakup or left believing you were the problem. It is a cruel, twisted game to them and if you wonder if they feel bad about it, they do not. The end game is to leave you broken. To destroy you. There is a very good chance that they have someone waiting for them.

To those who left the Narcissist, I commend you, it takes a lot of strength.

Hoover

This is simply just their way of trying to gain control over you again. By feeding you lies empty promises. Once you begin the healing process you do not hear from them. They have moved on with the new, or recycled supply. But once you have healed, move on. Set boundaries. Then they show up acting like nothing happened wanting to be with you. But it is not for the reason you think. They do not miss you, they are not sorry and they do not love you, they never did. The only agenda hurt you even more than the last time. Do Not Fall For it!

The cycle begins again.

The Cycle of Narcissistic Abuse video by Rebecca Zung

further explains this topic

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The Doormat

Photo by Andrew Neel on Pexels.com

Feeling Used

I heard this comment before and was taken aback. It is one that I had never heard before until much later.

It makes so much sense now.

I was the narcissist’s doormat. Nothing I did was appreciated, it was expected. Anxiety was through the roof and a sense of dread washed over me as I saw his vehicle approach the driveway, never knowing if I would be met with Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde.

Looking back on the early stages of the situationship before marriage, I was being controlled and manipulated, but I did not know it at the time. You may be wondering, How did you not know? It was combined with charm, and there was lots of it—with a bit of guilt.

I realize now besides being manipulated I was used, and taken advantage of. At some point, I mentally checked out. Unfortunately, I was still being walked all over.

I let it happen because, in some strange way, I thought it was love. I was very mistaken.

After he grew tired of breadcrumbing. He decided to walk away after we spent many years together. But when he left, I never went after him, to make him stay. I was hurt and devastated but then I came to realize that the marriage only meant something to me. It was one-sided. He was never really there for me like I had been for him. He took so much, yet gave so little in return.

Now there is peace. I am no longer a doormat, a sounding board. That is someone else’s problem now.

I dodged a bullet.

So, as you grieve, understand that it is completely normal to do that. You are mourning what you thought was real. You are no longer the doormat, their sounding board.

Give yourself time. You will learn and grow from this experience and are so much more deserving of love and respect.

I hope this helped in some way.

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When The Fog Lifts

Was it all in my head?

During the relationship, or as I refer to it as the “Situationship” many things happen, the memories are only bits and pieces and not all with a warm fuzzy feeling.

You were emotionally and physically exhausted and your health was suffering, as well as your mood.

You felt alone, isolated, and miserable, constantly jumping through hoops to please them or simply to keep the peace, only that felt like a never-ending battle.

Once you either find the courage and inner strength to leave, or you were discarded. You begin to go through the may stages of grief, because in a sense, it was a death.

You begin to realize how much you allowed yourself to put up with the disrespect, the lies, empty promises, and cheating. The list goes on.

Bit by bit you will find that some memories come back, thankfully, not all at once!

The realization of the mental abuse causes you to feel ashamed, embarrassed, and of course anger, all completely normal reactions.

So much of your life was stolen from you. It’s realized now that it was all a lie.

The other realization was that how you treated people and how you were treated made you, not yourself. The Abuse made you a shell of your former self.

Now you understand, you were manipulated, isolated from your Family, Friends and picked apart by the Narcissist. You felt as if you were walking on eggshells, never knowing what kind of mood you were about to face.

Now, it is time to shift the focus to you, and your mental and physical health. Reconnect with friends and family. Go to counseling, maybe even keep a journal, and start a hobby. All the things you could not do while you were with the Narcissist.

Now go take back your independence!

Below is a video by NarcDaily his videos are very informative and have helped me as well.

The Narcissistic Fog

I hope this post was helpful to you!

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The Aha Moment

The Awakening

Now I know I am not the only one who has experienced this, post discard you find yourself going through a wide range of emotions, all completely normal, by the way

You then find yourself searching the internet with the symptoms you encountered, and what you experienced, then you see the word Narcissism finally a name and all the symptoms appear to fit

YouTube has some valuable information on the subject and although you have gained some greater knowledge on the subject, you still find there is more to learn. After all, you need to know the red flags to watch out for so you don’t repeat the same mistake. It’s a very hard lesson to learn and heal from.

This was not a normal, healthy relationship.

The topic is all over it. You knew something wasn’t right but constantly felt that you were to blame for everything. You did not imagine it.

Narcissistic Abuse is real and now you want to educate yourself on the subject. This information could be helpful to others.

Waking Up To Narcissistic Abuse- Video By: Lisa A Romano

I hope this video helped you understand that this was not your fault. It also gives you a better understanding of what you went through

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