Sugar Avoidance As A Depression Treatment

Does cutting refined sugar from your diet really work in treating depression?  Find out here.

Does cutting refined sugar from your diet really work in treating depression? Find out.

What is Sugar Avoidance?

Cutting out refined sugar from the diet has been proposed to help depression in some cases.

How does Sugar Avoidance work?

There is evidence that eating foods rich in carbohydrates (sugar is a simple carbohydrate) produces a temporary improvement in mood. However, it has been proposed that some people have a sensitivity to refined sugar which leads to depression. Cutting out sugar therefore relieves the depression.

Is Sugar Avoidance effective to treat depression?

One small study has been carried out on patients whose depression was thought to be due to dietary factors. The researchers asked half of these patients to cut out caffeine and sugar from the diet and the other half to cut out red meat and artificial sweeteners. Depressed people who cut out caffeine and sugar showed more improvement. However, only a minority of the patients appeared to benefit specifically from cutting out sugar. There is no evidence on the effects of cutting out sugar in the majority of people who are depressed.

Are there any disadvantages?

None known.

Where do you get it?

It would be wise to seek the help of a dietitian to assess whether there is any sensitivity to sugar and to advise on changes to diet. Private dietitians are listed in the Yellow Pages.


 


Recommendation

Avoiding sugar may be helpful for the small minority of people who show a particular sensitivity to it. However, there is no evidence that it is helpful for most people suffering from depression. Indeed, eating sugar and other food rich in carbohydrates may lead to a temporary improvement in mood.

Key references

Benton D, Donohoe RT. The effects of nutrients on mood. Public Health Nutrition 1999; 2: 403-409.

Christensen L, Burrows R. Dietary treatment of depression. Behavior Therapy 1990; 21: 183-193.

back to: Alternative Treatments for Depression

APA Reference
Staff, H. (2008, November 4). Sugar Avoidance As A Depression Treatment, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, June 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/alternative-mental-health/depression-alternative/sugar-avoidance-as-a-depression-treatment

Last Updated: July 11, 2016

Problem Solving #3: The Six Aspects Of A Problem (Part 1)

Self-Therapy For People Who ENJOY Learning About Themselves

All personal and interpersonal problems CAN be solved. We've looked at the roadblocks (#1) and how to identify a problem (#2). Now, in #3 and #4, we'll learn about the six aspects of all problems.

This topic focuses on the Existence of a problem, its Significance, and its Solvability.

THE SIX ASPECTS OF A PROBLEM (Part 1)

The Six Aspects of Any Problem Are:

  • The Existence of the Problem
  • The Significance of the Problem
  • The Problem's Solvability
  • My Part in the Problem
  • Your Part in the Problem
  • The Situation.

IGNORING THESE ASPECTS CAN MAKE PROBLEM SOLVING IMPOSSIBLE!

So Why Do We Try To Ignore Them?

We ignore aspects of our problems in a futile attempt to avoid conflict, avoid losing, or avoid hurting someone. But these feared outcomes are usually only DELAYED and made WORSE by trying to avoid them.

The EXISTENCE of the Problem: "Does The Problem Really EXIST?"

When we pretend a problem isn't even there, we say things like: "It's No Problem." - "There's Nothing Wrong." "There's Nothing To Talk About." "It's All In Your Head." - "You're Just Imagining It!"

How Do We Know A Problem DOES Exist?

A problem exists when someone feels bad about something that can be changed. If your partner says "I have a problem with the way you do dishes," there IS a problem to be worked on. Period. Saying "there's nothing wrong with how I do dishes" only asks your partner to hide their feelings from you. If they stop talking about the problem, it "goes underground" and may get added to a pile of other resentments. It does NOT go away.


 


How To Handle People Who Say A Problem Isn't There Tell them: "It IS a problem, because what I feel matters!" [... The Person You Need To Say This To May Be YOU!...]

The SIGNIFICANCE of the Problem: "How IMPORTANT Is The Problem?"

When we pretend a problem isn't significant we say things like: "It's Not Important." - "It's No Biggy." - "It Doesn't Matter." - "It Doesn't Matter Much."

How Do We Know How Important A Problem Is?

We know how important a problem is by the AMOUNT of discomfort we feel in our bodies. Each person needs to notice how they feel and decide for themselves how important a problem is.

If your partner says "I have a problem with the way you do dishes" the problem is significant already just because it bothered them enough to tell you about it. Saying "It doesn't matter" tells them that their feelings don't matter to you. (Then you have a much bigger problem on your hands!) How To Handle People Who Say A Problem Isn't Important? Tell them: "I know how strongly I feel about this and I know it IS important!" [... The Person You Need To Say This To May Be YOU!...]

The SOLVABILITY of the Problem: "Can the Problem Be SOLVED?" When we pretend a problem can't be solved, we say things like: "Nothing Can Be Done About It." - "It's Hopeless." "It Can't Be Fixed." - "That's Just The Way I Am." How Do We Know If A Problem Is Solvable or Not? ALL problems are solvable, unless they require us to do something that is physically impossible.

"We should get along better" is solvable.

"We should learn to fly with our wings" is unsolvable!

When we claim we CAN'T change, we are really saying we WON'T change.

Of course, we certainly don't have to change anything that we don't want to change.

But we need to take responsibility for saying "No" to keep communication clear and so we don't end up in ongoing and unnecessary arguments.

We just need to firmly say something like: "I know you don't like the way I do dishes, but I'm the one doing them and I'm going to do them this way."

If your partner OFTEN says they "can't" do things you want them to do, the problem may be that you keep wanting them to do things your way rather than their own way.

This is "controlling" behavior on your part. If you wonder if you might be "controlling," go back to your own feelings - the sensations in your body. And ask yourself: "Are my bad feelings about what I said they were about ("the dishes"), or do I feel angry and scared just because I 'm not controlling what's going on?"

How To Handle People Who Say A Problem Isn't Solvable?

Tell them: "There's nothing impossible about it and you know it. We can do things differently." [... The Person You Need To Say This To May Be YOU!...]

next: Problem Solving #4: The Six Aspects Of A Problem (Part 2)

APA Reference
Staff, H. (2008, November 4). Problem Solving #3: The Six Aspects Of A Problem (Part 1), HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, June 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/self-help/inter-dependence/problem-solving-3-the-six-aspects-of-a-problem-part-1

Last Updated: March 30, 2016

Melatonin for Sleep Disorders

Government report says safety of melatonin supplements is unclear and melatonin supplements have little benefit in treating sleep disorders.

Government report says safety of melatonin supplements is unclear and melatonin supplements have little benefit in treating sleep disorders.

AHRQ Issues New Report on the Safety and Effectiveness of Melatonin Supplements

A new evidence review by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that melatonin supplements, which people often take for problems sleeping, appear to be safe when used over a period of days or weeks, at relatively high doses and in various formulations. However, the safety of melatonin supplements used over months or even years is unclear. While there is some evidence for benefits of melatonin supplements, for most sleep disorders the authors found evidence suggesting limited or no benefits. But the authors say that firm conclusions cannot be drawn until more research is conducted. The report was requested and funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a part of HHS' National Institutes of Health.

The report's authors reviewed the scientific evidence to date for the benefits of melatonin supplements used for disorders due to sleep schedule alterations and primary and secondary sleep disorders. Disorders due to sleep schedule alterations can stem from flying across time zones or working night shifts. Primary sleep disorders, which include insomnia, can be caused by factors such as stress or drinking too much caffeinated coffee. Secondary sleep disorders can also include insomnia, but patients in this category also have underlying mental disorders, such as psychoses or mood and anxiety disorders, neurological conditions such as dementia and Parkinson's disease, or chronic pulmonary disease.

In its natural form, melatonin is produced by the brain's pineal gland to regulate the sleep cycle. In the evening the level of the hormone in the bloodstream rises sharply, reducing alertness and inviting sleep, and in the morning it falls back, encouraging waking.

Among those problems for which melatonin supplements appear to provide little benefit are jet lag—a problem that often nags coast-to-coast travelers and those who fly through other time zones, as well as people who work night shifts.


 


In contrast, the authors found evidence to suggest that melatonin supplements may be effective when used in the short term to treat delayed sleep phase syndrome in persons with primary sleep disorders. In delayed sleep phase syndrome, a person's internal biological clock becomes "out of sync," making it difficult to fall asleep until very late at night and to wake up early the next morning. But melatonin supplements may decrease sleep onset latency—the time it takes to fall asleep after going to bed—in persons with primary sleep disorders such as insomnia, although the magnitude of the effect appears to be limited.

Melatonin supplements do not appear to have an effect on sleep efficiency in persons with primary sleep disorders, and the effects of the hormone do not seem to vary by the individual's age, type of primary sleep disorder, dose or length of treatment. Sleep efficiency refers to the percent of time a person is asleep after going to bed. Furthermore, melatonin supplements do not appear to affect sleep quality, wakefulness after sleep onset, total sleep time or percent of time spent in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This most important phase of sleep is characterized by extensive physiological changes such as accelerated breathing, increased brain activity, REM and muscle relaxation.

In people with secondary sleep disorders, melatonin supplements do not appear to have an impact on sleep latency in either adults or children—regardless of dose or duration of treatment. On the other hand, the hormone does appear to increase sleep efficiency modestly, but not enough to be considered clinically significant. Melatonin supplements were not found to have an effect on wakefulness after sleep onset or percent of time spent in REM sleep, but they do appear to increase total sleep time.

"Having evidence on what works and what may have limited or no benefit for the patient is a key part of AHRQ's mission," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. "Sleep disorders can affect a person's quality of life and job performance, which can translate into decreased productivity, motor vehicle and industrial accidents, and even medical errors." Estimates show that at least 40 million Americans each year suffer from chronic sleep disorders, and an additional 20 million experience occasional sleep problems.

NCCAM Director Stephen E. Straus, M.D., said, "The data from this report provide not only a scientific perspective on what is known and not known about melatonin to date, but some intriguing and important leads for areas of future research on melatonin and its use for sleep problems. This supplement is of interest to many Americans as an alternative to prescription drugs for this purpose."

Insomnia, the most common sleep disorder, affects 6 percent to 12 percent of adults, while 15 percent to 25 percent of children have difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep. Sleep disorders cost an estimated $16 billion in medical costs alone each year. Indirect costs due to lost or sub-standard work productivity, accidents, resulting litigation, and other factors may increase overall costs many fold. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for example, estimates that 100,000 motor vehicle accidents a year are caused by driver fatigue from sleep deprivation, which is one result of some sleep disorders, and that more than 1,500 people are killed and another 71,000 injured annually as a result.

The evidence report was prepared by a team of researchers led by Terry Klassen, M.D., director of AHRQ's University of Alberta/Capital Evidence-based Practice Centre in Edmonton, and Chair of Pediatrics for the university's Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. A summary of Melatonin for Treatment of Sleep Disorders can be found at www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/melatsum.htm. To download the full report as a PDF file, go to http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/melatsum.pdf.

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) press release

back to: Alternative Medicine Home ~ Alternative Medicine Treatments

APA Reference
Staff, H. (2008, November 4). Melatonin for Sleep Disorders, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, June 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/alternative-mental-health/treatments/melatonin-for-sleep-disorders

Last Updated: July 8, 2016

St. John's Wort for Depression

Overview of St. John's Wort as a natural treatment for depression and whether this herbal remedy works in treating depression.

Overview of St. John's Wort as a natural treatment for depression and whether this herbal remedy works in treating depression.

What is St. John's Wort?

St John's wort (Latin name: Hypericum perforatum) is a small plant with a yellow flower that grows wild in Australia and many parts of the world. It is a traditional herbal remedy in Europe, but has only recently been studied scientifically.

How does St. John's Wort work?

The way St John's wort works is not fully understood. However, it is thought to increase the level of chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) in the brain that are thought be in low supply in depressed people.

Is St. John's Wort effective?

There have been a lot of studies comparing the effectiveness of St John's wort with pills that don't have any effect (placebos) and with antidepressant drugs. These studies show that St John's wort works as well as antidepressant drugs for people with mild to moderate depression.

Are there any disadvantages?

A problem with herbal remedies compared to manufactured drugs is that the dose of the active ingredients cannot be precisely controlled. Like all drugs, St John's wort can have side effects, but these are fewer than for antidepressant drugs. The Therapeutic Goods Administration has warned that St John's wort can interact with a number of other medicines. It can reduce the effects of these medicines, or increase the effects once St John's wort is stopped. St John's wort should not be taken in combination with antidepressant tablets prescribed by your doctor for depression. If you are taking any other medication, check with your doctor first.

Where do you get St. John's Wort?

St John's wort is sold in tablet form at health food shops and many supermarkets. St John's wort is also sometimes added to food products (such as herbal tea or breakfast cereal), but there is no evidence that it is effective in this form.


 


Recommendation

If you do not want to use an antidepressant drug prescribed by a doctor, and you do not have severe depression, St John's wort might be a useful alternative in treating depression.

Key references

Kim HL, Streltzer J, Goebert D. St. John's wort for depression: a meta-analysis of well-defined clinical trials. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 1999; 187: 532-538.

back to: Alternative Treatments for Depression

APA Reference
Staff, H. (2008, November 4). St. John's Wort for Depression, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, June 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/alternative-mental-health/depression-alternative/st-johns-wort-for-depression

Last Updated: July 11, 2016

Diagnostic Criteria For Mixed Episode Bipolar Disorder

Signs and symptoms of a mixed episode of bipolar disorder that doctors look for.For a diagnosis of a mixed episode of bipolar disorder, these are the signs and symptoms doctors are looking for:

A.- The criteria are met both for a Manic Episode and for a Major Depressive Episode (except for duration) nearly every day during at least a 1-week period.

B.- The mood disturbance is sufficiently severe to cause marked impairment in occupational functioning or in usual social activities or relationships with others, or to necessitate hospitalization to prevent harm to self or others, or there are psychotic features.

C.- The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication, or other treatment) or a general medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism).

Note: Mixed-like episodes that are clearly caused by somatic antidepressant treatment (e.g., medication, electroconvulsive therapy, light therapy) should not count toward a diagnosis of Bipolar I Disorder.

Source:

  • American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th Ed. Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000.

next: Questions to Ask Your Doctor
~ bipolar disorder library
~ all bipolar disorder articles

APA Reference
Staff, H. (2008, November 4). Diagnostic Criteria For Mixed Episode Bipolar Disorder, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, June 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/bipolar-disorder/articles/diagnostic-criteria-for-mixed-episode-bipolar-disorder

Last Updated: April 6, 2017

Teenagers

Self-Therapy For People Who ENJOY Learning About Themselves

WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO PROVE?

Teenagers are trying to prove TO THEMSELVES that they don't need anyone. If you get in the way of this natural process, you will face big trouble. If you convince them that they do need you, they may never grow up and never experience success. If you abandon them emotionally, they may not even survive.

UNHEALTHY DEPENDENCE

Parents who can't let go of their teens either find that they argue with them constantly or that their teens are extremely well-behaved.

Of these two, the constant arguing is by far the best outcome. Teens who have parents who won't let go and yet are extremely well-behaved have given up on growing up. They will either try to stay dependent on you all their lives, or they will always be searching for someone else to run their lives for them.

EMOTIONAL ABANDONMENT

Unhealthy families tend to say: "It's my way or the road." When their teens express their needs, they are ignored.

So, since the teen world is sometimes a very scary world, these teens get their needs met someplace else.

If they are lucky, they find a good replacement for their abandoning parents. If they are unlucky, they find other frightened teens and form dangerous coalitions.

THE LOOSE ROPE

The solution is to imagine that there is an extremely loose rope tied between your waist and your teen's waist.

Most of the time neither of you even notices the rope. But once in a while you will feel a tug, when the teen says "I need you right now." That's when you can become active in their lives, with advice and love. When they get what they need, they will pull away again.


 


LESSONS LEARNED

The teen years are filled with experiments. When a healthy teen tries something and makes a mistake, you don't have to ask: "What did you learn?". They will tell you on their own (for your confirmation of their good judgment).

WHAT IF THEY NEVER TUG?

It is true that parents sometimes need to intervene in their teenager's lives even when they haven't been invited.

But the only times that we should intervene without an invitation are when there are questions of physical safety involved. (Even teenagers can tell that you care if your only motivation is to keep them safe!)

TEENS AND RELATIONSHIPS

As your teenager tries to be completely independent, they will learn that the one thing they can't completely take care of on their own is their need for touch.

Out of this need, they will form extremely stormy relationships in which they cuddle and perhaps have sex while all the while denying that they need each other at all.

Parents need to stay out of teen relationships as much as possible. They are probably right when they say "we just don't understand." If you have announced your values about sex clearly, you have done all you can possibly do.

If the early childhood years went well, and if your teenager can see that you follow your own values and that they serve you well, your words will be engraved in their minds when they need to hear them.

If not, they will have to learn through their experiments.

WHAT DO PARENTS GET OUT OF THESE YEARS?

Aside from getting the lawn mowed and the garage cleaned after a lot of nagging, not much! These years are for them. If things went well, we had about thirteen years of enjoyment while we watched them grow... and we can look forward to many more years of their friendship, love, and respect after they become adults.

But these teen years are for them. Spend these years preparing for new stages in your own life. Spend lots of time with your friends. Dive into your hobbies. Enjoy your relationship with your spouse. (It will be much easier now, because teens tend to be away from home a lot.)

next: Angels, Infants, and Hope

APA Reference
Staff, H. (2008, November 4). Teenagers, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, June 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/self-help/inter-dependence/teenagers

Last Updated: March 30, 2016

Me Change? Yuk!!

Changing how you feel about your relationship begins with changing how you think!

Someone once said, "change your thinking and you will change your life." I couldn't agree more. However, there is one more thing you must do. That is to also change your behavior. Changing your attitude about the situation is part of changing your behavior. Without changing your behavior and your attitude, changing your thinking won't matter.

Me Change? Yuk!!Look at your behavior and your attitude to see if they are contributing to the well being of the relationship or detracting from it. Is your attitude about it building obstacles or creating space for a healthy love relationship to thrive? You always have choice.

Remember, relationship problems are shared problems. It is rarely ever only one person's fault. A question you might ask yourself is: "What am I doing that contributes to me seeing this as a problem?" Next, decide to change your thinking about the problem or your partner. Then begin to change your behavior about how you react to whatever you perceive the problem to be.

When what you are doing isn't working, you must decide to do something different - to make a change. And the sooner, the better. Seldom does anything improve from neglect. Stay open to the possibility that doing "something different" might work. It most likely will be something you've never tried before or that won't make sense until you try it. That might be a little scary and you have to take the first step while you are still afraid.

What you think about and speak about, you bring about. Want more of the problem? Keep thinking about it instead of seeking mutually beneficial solutions to it and refuse to change "YOUR" behavior. Rather than looking outside for the source of your problems, look inside for the source of your solutions.

It's not easy. And, you can do it.

When you dwell on the problem, a solution to it will not appear to you. There is usually more than one solution to every problem. Problems do not go away by themselves. People solve problems.

Obviously if you have a partner who is willing to work with you to get your relationship back on track. . . that's ideal. But what do you do when your partner doesn't acknowledge that there is a problem?


continue story below


You must decide to focus your attention on working on you; getting back in touch with who you are. With a major behavior and attitude adjustment, you will begin to feel better about yourself and stop blaming your partner for the problem.

Remember, changing how you feel about your relationship, begins with changing how you think!

next: Relationships Require Attention

APA Reference
Staff, H. (2008, November 4). Me Change? Yuk!!, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, June 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/relationships/celebrate-love/me-change-yuk

Last Updated: May 13, 2015

The Soul of a Narcissist: The State of the Art

Loving your True Self is healthy. Loving your reflection, being a narcissist, leads to a life of misery and fear. Read this and look into the soul of a narcissist.

Book Excerpts Index

Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited

Introduction

The Essay and some of the chapters contain professional terms.

We all love ourselves. That seems to be such an instinctively true statement that we do not bother to examine it more thoroughly. In our daily lives - in love, in business, in other areas of life - we act on this premise. Yet, upon closer inspection, it looks shakier.

Some people explicitly state that they do not love themselves at all. Others confine their lack of self-love to certain traits, to their personal history, or to some of their behaviour patterns. Yet others feel content with who they are and with what they are doing.

But one group of people seems distinct in its mental constitution - narcissists.

According to the legend of Narcissus, this Greek boy fell in love with his own reflection in a pond. Presumably, this amply sums up the nature of his namesakes: narcissists. The mythological Narcissus was rejected by the nymph Echo and was punished by Nemesis, Consigned to pine away as he fell in love with his own reflection. How apt. Narcissists are punished by echoes and reflections of their problematic personalities up to this very day.

Loving your True Self is  healthy. Loving your reflection, being a narcissist, leads to a life of misery and fear. Visit and look into the soul of a narcissist.They are said to be in love with themselves.

But this is a fallacy. Narcissus is not in love with HIMSELF. He is in love with his REFLECTION.

There is a major difference between True Self and reflected-self.

Loving your True Self is a healthy, adaptive and functional quality.

Loving a reflection has two major drawbacks.

  1. One depends on the existence and availability of the reflection to produce the emotion of self-love.

  2. The absence of a "compass", an "objective and realistic yardstick", by which to judge the authenticity of the reflection. In other words, it is impossible to tell whether the reflection is true to reality - and, if so, to what extent.

The popular misconception is that narcissists love themselves. In reality, they direct their love to other people's impressions of them. He who loves only impressions is incapable of loving people, himself included.

But the narcissist does possess the in-bred desire to love and to be loved. If he cannot love himself - he must love his reflection. But to love his reflection - it must be loveable. Thus, driven by the insatiable urge to love (which we all possess), the narcissist is preoccupied with projecting a loveable image, albeit compatible with his self-image (the way he "sees" himself).

The narcissist maintains this projected image and invests resources and energy in it, sometimes depleting him to the point of rendering him vulnerable to external threats.

But the most important characteristic of the narcissist's projected image is its lovability.

To a narcissist, love is interchangeable with other emotions, such as awe, respect, admiration, attention, or even being feared (collectively known as Narcissistic Supply). Thus, to him, a projected image, which provokes these reactions in others, is both "loveable and loved". It also feels like self-love.

The more successful this projected image (or series of successive images) is in generating Narcissistic Supply (NS) - the more the narcissist becomes divorced from his True Self and married to the image.

I am not saying that the narcissist does not have a central nucleus of a "self". All I am saying is that he prefers his image - with which he identifies unreservedly - to his True Self. The True Self becomes serf to the Image. The narcissist, therefore, is not selfish - because his True Self is paralysed and subordinate.

The narcissist is not attuned exclusively to his needs. On the contrary: he ignores them because many of them conflict with his ostensible omnipotence and omniscience. He does not put himself first - he puts his self last. He caters to the needs and wishes of everyone around him - because he craves their love and admiration. It is through their reactions that he acquires a sense of distinct self. In many ways he annuls himself - only to re-invent himself through the look of others. He is the person most insensitive to his true needs.


 


The narcissist drains himself of mental energy in this process. This is why he has none left to dedicate to others. This fact, as well as his inability to love human beings in their many dimensions and facets, ultimately transform him into a recluse. His soul is fortified and in the solace of this fortification he guards its territory jealously and fiercely. He protects what he perceives to constitute his independence.

Why should people indulge the narcissist? And what is the "evolutionary", survival value of preferring one kind of love (directed at an image) to another (directed at one's self)?

These questions torment the narcissist. His convoluted mind comes up with the most elaborate contraptions in lieu of answers.

Why should people indulge the narcissist, divert time and energy, give him attention, love and adulation? The narcissist's answer is simple: because he is entitled to it. He feels that he deserves whatever he succeeds to extract from others and much more. Actually, he feels betrayed, discriminated against and underprivileged because he believes that he is not being treated fairly, that he should get more than he does.

There is a discrepancy between his infinite certainty that his is a special status which renders him worthy of recurrent praise and adoration, replete with special benefits and prerogatives - and the actual state of his affairs. To the narcissist, this status of uniqueness is bestowed upon him not by virtue of his achievements, but merely because he exists.

The narcissist's deems his mere existence as sufficiently unique to warrant the kind of treatment that he expects to get from the world. Herein lies a paradox, which haunts the narcissist: he derives his sense of uniqueness from the very fact that he exists and he derives his sense of existence from his belief that he is unique.

Clinical data show that there is rarely any realistic basis for these grandiose notions of greatness and uniqueness.

Some narcissists are high achievers with proven track records. Some of them are pillars of their communities. Mostly, they are dynamic and successful. Still, they are ridiculously pompous and inflated personalities, bordering on the farcical and provoking resentment.

The narcissist is forced to use other people in order to feel that he exists. It is trough their eyes and through their behaviour that he obtains proof of his uniqueness and grandeur. He is a habitual "people-junkie". With time, he comes to regard those around him as mere instruments of gratification, as two-dimensional cartoon figures with negligible lines in the script of his magnificent life.

He becomes unscrupulous, never bothered by the constant exploitation of his milieu, indifferent to the consequences of his actions, the damage and the pain that he inflicts on others and even the social condemnation and sanctions that he often has to endure.

When a person persists in a dysfunctional, maladaptive or plain useless behaviour despite grave repercussions to himself and to others, we say that his acts are compulsive. The narcissist is compulsive in his pursuit of Narcissistic Supply. This linkage between narcissism and obsessive-compulsive disorders sheds light on the mechanisms of the narcissistic psyche.

The narcissist does not suffer from a faulty sense of causation. He is not oblivious to the likely outcomes of his actions and to the price he may have to pay. But he doesn't care.

A personality whose very existence is a derivative of its reflection in other people's minds is perilously dependent on these people's perceptions. They are the Source of Narcissistic Supply (NSS). Criticism and disapproval are interpreted as a sadistic withholding of said supply and as a direct threat to the narcissist's mental house of cards.

The narcissist lives in a world of all or nothing, of a constant "to be or not be". Every discussion that he holds, every glance of every passer-by reaffirms his existence or casts it in doubt. This is why the reactions of the narcissist seem so disproportionate: he reacts to what he perceives to be a danger to the very cohesion of his self. Thus, every minor disagreement with a Source of Narcissistic Supply - another person - is interpreted as a threat to the narcissist's very self-worth.

This is such a crucial matter, that the narcissist cannot take chances. He would rather be mistaken then remain without Narcissistic Supply. He would rather discern disapproval and unjustified criticism where there are none then face the consequences of being caught off-guard.

The narcissist has to condition his human environment to refrain from expressing criticism and disapproval of him or of his actions and decisions. He has to teach people around him that these provoke him into frightful fits of temper and rage attacks and turn him into a constantly cantankerous and irascible person. His exaggerated reactions constitute a punishment for their inconsiderateness and their ignorance of his true psychological state.

The narcissist blames others for his behaviour, accuses them of provoking him into his temper tantrums and believes firmly that "they" should be punished for their "misbehaviour". Apologies - unless accompanied by verbal or other humiliation - are not enough. The fuel of the narcissist's rage is spent mainly on vitriolic verbal send-offs directed at the (often imaginary) perpetrator of the (oft innocuous) offence.

The narcissist - wittingly or not - utilises people to buttress his self-image and to regulate his sense of self-worth. As long and in as much as they are instrumental in achieving these goals, he holds them in high regard, they are valuable to him. He sees them only through this lens. This is a result of his inability to love others: he lacks empathy, he thinks utility, and, thus, he reduces others to mere instruments.

If they cease to "function", if, no matter how inadvertently, they cause him to doubt his illusory, half-baked, self-esteem - they are subjected to a reign of terror. The narcissist then proceeds to hurt these "insubordinates". He belittles and humiliates them. He displays aggression and violence in myriad forms. His behaviour metamorphoses, kaleidoscopically, from over-valuing (idealising) the useful person - to a severe devaluation of same. The narcissist abhors, almost physiologically, people judged by him to be "useless".


 


These rapid alterations between absolute overvaluation (idealisation) to complete devaluation make long-term interpersonal relationships with the narcissist all but impossible.

The more pathological form of narcissism - the Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) - was defined in successive versions of the American DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual published by the American Psychiatric Association) and the international ICD (Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders, published by the World Health Organisation). It is useful to scrutinise these geological layers of clinical observations and their interpretation.

In 1977 the DSM-III criteria included:

  • An inflated valuation of oneself (exaggeration of talents and achievements, demonstration of presumptuous self-confidence);
  • Interpersonal exploitation (uses others to satisfy his needs and desires, expects preferential treatment without undertaking mutual commitments);
  • Possesses expansive imagination (externalises immature and non-regimented fantasies, "prevaricates to redeem self-illusions");
  • Displays supercilious imperturbability (except when the narcissistic confidence is shaken), nonchalant, unimpressed and cold-blooded;
  • Defective social conscience (rebels against the conventions of common social existence, does not value personal integrity and the rights of other people).

Compare the 1977 version with the one adopted 10 years later (in the DSM-III-R) and expanded upon in 1994 (in the DSM-IV) and in 2000 (the DSM-IV-TR) - click here to read the latest diagnostic criteria.

The narcissist is portrayed as a monster, a ruthless and exploitative person. Yet, inside, the narcissist suffers from a chronic lack of confidence and is fundamentally dissatisfied. This applies to all narcissists. The distinction between "compensatory" and "classic" narcissists is spurious. All narcissists are walking scar tissue, the outcomes of various forms of abuse.

On the outside, the narcissist may appear to be labile and unstable. But, this does not capture the barren landscape of misery and fears that is his soul. His brazen and reckless behaviour covers up for a depressive, anxious interior.

How can such contrasts coexist?

Freud (1915) offered a trilateral model of the human psyche, composed of the Id, the Ego, and the Superego.

According to Freud, narcissists are dominated by their Ego to such an extent that the Id and Superego are neutralised. Early in his career, Freud believed narcissism to be a normal developmental phase between autoeroticism and object-love. Later on, he concluded that linear development can be thwarted by the very efforts we all make in our infancy to evolve the capacity to love an object (another person).

Some of us, thus Freud, fail to grow beyond the phase of self-love in the development of our libido. Others refer to themselves and prefer themselves as objects of love. This choice - to concentrate on the self - is the result of an unconscious decision to give up a consistently frustrating and unrewarding effort to love others and to trust them.

The frustrated and abused child learns that the only "object" he can trust and that is always and reliably available, the only person he can love without being abandoned or hurt - is himself.

So, is pathological narcissism the outcome of verbal, sexual, physical, or psychological abuse (the overwhelming view) - or, on the contrary, the sad result of spoiling the child and idolising it (Millon, the late Freud)?

This debate is easier to resolve if one agrees to adopt a more comprehensive definition of "abuse". Overweening, smothering, spoiling, overvaluing, and idolising the child - are also forms of parental abuse.

This is because, as Horney pointed out, the smothered and spoiled child is dehumanised and instrumentalised. His parents love him not for what he really is - but for what they wish and imagine him to be: the fulfilment of their dreams and frustrated wishes. The child becomes the vessel of his parents' discontented lives, a tool, the magic airbrush with which they seek to transform their failures into successes, their humiliation into victory, their frustrations into happiness.

The child is taught to give up on reality and adopt the parental fantasies. Such an unfortunate child feels omnipotent and omniscient, perfect and brilliant, worthy of adoration and entitled to special treatment. The faculties that are honed by constantly brushing against bruising reality - empathy, compassion, a realistic assessment of one's abilities and limitations, realistic expectations of oneself and of others, personal boundaries, team work, social skills, perseverance and goal-orientation, not to mention the ability to postpone gratification and to work hard to achieve it - are all lacking or missing altogether.

This kind of child turned adult sees no reason to invest resources in his skills and education, convinced that his inherent genius should suffice. He feels entitled for merely being, rather than for actually doing (rather as the nobility in days gone by felt entitled not by virtue of its merits but as the inevitable, foreordained outcome of its birth right). The narcissist is not meritocratic - but aristocratic.


 


Such a mental structure is brittle, susceptible to criticism and disagreement, vulnerable to the incessant encounter with a harsh and intolerant world. Deep inside, narcissists of both kinds (those wrought by "classic" abuse and those yielded by being idolised) - feel inadequate, phoney, fake, inferior, and deserving of punishment.

This is Millon's mistake. He makes a distinction between several types of narcissists. He wrongly assumes that the "classic" narcissist is the outcome of parental overvaluation, idolisation, and spoiling and, thus, is possessed of supreme, unchallenged, self-confidence, and is devoid of all self-doubt.

According to Millon, it is the "compensatory" narcissist that falls prey to nagging self-doubts, feelings of inferiority, and a masochistic desire for self-punishment.

Yet, this distinction is both wrong and unnecessary. Psychodynamically, there is only one type of pathological narcissism - though there are two developmental paths to it. And all narcissists are besieged by deeply ingrained (though at times not conscious) feelings of inadequacy, fears of failure, masochistic desires to be penalised, a fluctuating sense of self-worth (regulated by NS), and an overwhelming sensation of fakeness.

In the early childhoods of all narcissists, meaningful others are inconsistent in their acceptance. They pay attention to the narcissist only when they wish to satisfy their needs. They tend to ignore him - or actively abuse him - when these needs are no longer pressing or existent.

The narcissist's past of abuse teaches him to avoid deeper relationships in order to escape this painful approach-avoidance pendulum. Protecting himself from hurt and from abandonment, he insulates himself from people around him. He digs in - rather than spring out.

As children go through this phase of disbelief. We all put people around us (the aforementioned objects) to recurrent tests. This is the "primary narcissistic stage". A positive relationship with one's parents or caregivers (Primary Objects) secures the smooth transition to "object love". The child forgoes his narcissism.

Giving up one's narcissism is tough. Narcissism is alluring, soothing, warm and dependable. It is always present and omnipresent. It is custom tailored to the needs of the individual. To love oneself is to have the perfect lover. Good reasons and strong forces - collectively known as "parental love" - are required to motivate the child to give its narcissism up.

The child progresses beyond its primary narcissism in order to be able to love his parents. If they are narcissists, they subject him to idealisation (over-valuation) and devaluation cycles. They do not reliably satisfy the child's needs. In other words, they frustrate him. He gradually realises that he is no more than a toy, an instrument, a means to an end - his parents' gratification.

This shocking revelation deforms the budding Ego. The child forms a strong dependence (as opposed to attachment) on his parents. This dependence is really the outcome of fear, the mirror image of aggression. In Freud-speak (psychoanalysis) we say that the child is likely to develop accentuated oral fixations and regressions. In plain terms, we are likely to see a lost, phobic, helpless, raging child.

But a child is still a child and his relationship with his parents is of ultimate importance to him.

He, therefore, resists his natural reactions to his abusive caregivers, and tries to defuse his libidinal and aggressive sensations and emotions. This way, he hopes to rehabilitate the damaged relationship with his parents (which never really existed). Hence the primordial confabulation, the mother of all future narcissistic fantasies. In his embattled mind, the child transforms the Superego into an idealised, sadistic parent-child. His Ego, in turn, becomes a hated, devalued child-parent.

The family is the mainspring of support of every kind. It mobilises psychological resources and alleviates emotional burdens. It allows for the sharing of tasks, provides material supplies coupled with cognitive training. It is the prime socialisation agent and encourages the absorption of information, most of it useful and adaptive.

This division of labour between parents and children is vital both to personal growth and to proper adaptation. The child must feel, as he does in a functional family, that he can share his experiences without being defensive and that the feedback that he is getting is open and unbiased. The only "bias" acceptable (often because it is consonant with feedback from the outside) is the family's set of beliefs, values and goals that are finally internalised by the child by way of imitation and unconscious identification.

So, the family is the first and the most important source of identity and emotional support. It is a greenhouse, where the child feels loved, cared for, accepted, and secure - the prerequisites for the development of personal resources. On the material level, the family should provide the basic necessities (and, preferably, beyond), physical care and protection, and refuge and shelter during crises.

The role of the mother (the Primary Object) has been often discussed. The father's part is mostly neglected, even in professional literature. However, recent research demonstrates his importance to the orderly and healthy development of the child.

The father participates in the day-to-day care, is an intellectual catalyst, who encourages the child to develop his interests and to satisfy his curiosity through the manipulation of various instruments and games. He is a source of authority and discipline, a boundary setter, enforcing and encouraging positive behaviours and eliminating negative ones.

The father also provides emotional support and economic security, thus stabilising the family unit. Finally, he is the prime source of masculine orientation and identification to the male child - and gives warmth and love as a male to his daughter, without exceeding the socially permissible limits.


 


We can safely say that the narcissist's family is as severely disordered as he is. Pathological narcissism is largely a reflection of this dysfunction. Such an environment breeds self-deception. The narcissist's internal dialogue is "I do have a relationship with my parents. It is my fault - the fault of my emotions, sensations, aggressions and passions - that this relationship is not working. It is, therefore, my responsibility to make amends. I will construct a narrative in which I am both loved and punished. In this script, I will allocate roles to myself and to my parents. This way, everything will be fine and we will all be happy."

Thus starts the cycle of over-valuation (idealisation) and devaluation. The dual roles of sadist and punished masochist (Superego and Ego), parent and child, permeate all the narcissist's interactions with other people.

The narcissist experiences a reversal of roles as his relationships progress. At the beginning of a relationship he is the child in need of attention, approval and admiration. He becomes dependent. Then, at the first sign of disapproval (real or imaginary), he is transformed into an avowed sadist, punishing and inflicting pain.

It is commonly agreed that a loss (real or perceived) at a critical junction in the psychological development of the child forces him to refer to himself for nurturing and for gratification. The child ceases to trust others and his ability to develop object love, or to idealise is hampered. He is constantly haunted by the feeling that only he can satisfy his emotional needs.

He exploits people, sometimes unintentionally, but always ruthlessly and mercilessly. He uses them to obtain confirmation of the accuracy of his grandiose self-portrait.

The narcissist is usually above treatment. He knows best. He feels superior to his therapist in particular and to the science of psychology in general. He seeks treatment only following a major life crisis, which directly threatens his projected and perceived image. Even then he only wishes to restore the previous balance.

Therapy sessions with the narcissist resemble a battlefield. He is aloof and distanced, demonstrates his superiority in a myriad ways, resents what he perceives to be an intrusion on his innermost sanctum. He is offended by any hint regarding defects or dysfunctions in his personality or in his behaviour. A narcissist is a narcissist is a narcissist - even when he asks for help with his world and worldview shattered.

Appendix: Object Relations Theories and Narcissism

Otto Kernberg (1975, 1984, 1987) disagrees with Freud. He regards the division between an "object libido" (energy directed at objects, meaningful others, people in the immediate vicinity of the infant) and a "narcissistic libido" (energy directed at the self as the most immediate and satisfying object), which precedes it - as spurious.

Whether a child develops normal or pathological narcissism depends on the relations between the representations of the self (roughly, the image of the self that the child forms in his mind) and the representations of objects (roughly, the images of other people that the child forms in his mind, based on all the emotional and objective information available to him). It is also dependent on the relationship between the representations of the self and real, external, "objective" objects.

Add to these instinctual conflicts related to both the libido and to aggression (these very strong emotions give rise to strong conflicts in the child) and a comprehensive explanation concerning the formation of pathological narcissism emerges.

Kernberg's concept of Self is closely related to Freud's concept of Ego. The self is dependent upon the unconscious, which exerts a constant influence on all mental functions. Pathological narcissism, therefore, reflects a libidinal investment in a pathologically structured self and not in a normal, integrative structure of the self.

The narcissist suffers because his self is devalued or fixated on aggression. All object relations of such a self are distorted: it detaches from real objects (because they hurt him often), dissociates, represses, or projects. Narcissism is not merely a fixation on an early developmental stage. It is not confined to the failure to develop intra-psychic structures. It is an active, libidinal investment in a deformed structure of the self.

Franz Kohut regarded narcissism as the final product of the failing efforts of parents to cope with the needs of the child to idealise and to be grandiose (for instance, to be omnipotent).

Idealisation is an important developmental path leading to narcissism. The child merges the idealised aspects of the images of his parents (Imagos, in Kohut's terminology) with those wide segments of the image of the parent which are cathected (infused) with object libido (in which the child invests the energy that he reserves for objects).

This exerts an enormous and all-important influence on the processes of re-internalisation (the processes in which the child re-introduces the objects and their images into his mind) in each of the successive phases. Through these processes, two permanent nuclei of the personality are constructed:

  • The basic, neutralising texture of the psyche, and
  • The ideal Superego

Both of them are characterised by an invested instinctual narcissistic cathexis (invested energy of self-love which is instinctual).


 


At first, the child idealises his parents. As he grows, he begins to notice their shortcomings and vices. He withdraws part of the idealising libido from the images of the parents, which is conducive to the natural development of the Superego. The narcissistic part of the child's psyche remains vulnerable throughout its development. This is largely true until the "child" re-internalises the ideal parent image.

Also, the very construction of the mental apparatus can be tampered with by traumatic deficiencies and by object losses right through the Oedipal period (and even in latency and in adolescence).

The same effect can be attributed to traumatic disappointment by objects.

Disturbances leading to the formation of NPD can be thus grouped into:

  1. Very early disturbances in the relationship with an ideal object. These lead to a structural weakness of the personality, which develops a deficient and/or dysfunctional stimuli-filtering mechanism. The ability of the individual to maintain a basic narcissistic homeostasis of the personality is damaged. Such a person suffers from diffusive narcissistic vulnerability.
  2. A disturbance occurring later in life - but still pre-Oedipally - affects the pre-Oedipal formation of the basic mechanisms for controlling, channelling, and neutralising drives and urges. The nature of the disturbance has to be a traumatic encounter with the ideal object (such as a major disappointment). The symptomatic manifestation of this structural defect is the propensity to re-sexualise drive derivatives and internal and external conflicts, either in the form of fantasies or in the form of deviant acts.
  3. A disturbance formed in the Oedipal or even in the early latent phases - inhibits the completion of the Superego idealisation. This is especially true of a disappointment related to an ideal object of the late pre-Oedipal and the Oedipal stages, where the partly idealised external parallel of the newly internalised object is traumatically destroyed.

Such a person possesses a set of values and standards, but he is always on the lookout for ideal external figures from whom he aspires to derive the affirmation and the leadership that he cannot get from his insufficiently idealised Superego.


 

next: Chapter 1, The Soul of a Narcissist, The State of the Art

APA Reference
Vaknin, S. (2008, November 4). The Soul of a Narcissist: The State of the Art, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, June 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/personality-disorders/malignant-self-love/soul-of-a-narcissist-intro

Last Updated: July 5, 2018

The True Nature of Love - Part I, What Love is Not

"We live in a society where the emotional experience of "love" is conditional on behavior. Where fear, guilt, and shame are used to try to control children's behavior because parents believe that their children's behavior reflects their self-worth.

In other words, if little Johnny is a well-behaved, "good boy", then his parents are good people. If Johnny acts out, and misbehaves, then there is something wrong with his parents. ("He doesn't come from a good family".)

What the family dynamics research shows is that it is actually the good child - the family hero role - who is the most emotionally dishonest and out of touch with him/herself, while the acting-out child - the scapegoat - is the most emotionally honest child in the dysfunctional family. Backwards again.

In a Codependent society we are taught, in the name of "love", to try to control those we love, by manipulating and shaming them, to try to get them to do the 'right' things - in order to protect our own ego-strength. Our emotional experience of love is of something controlling: "I love you if you do what I want you to do". Our emotional experience of love is of something that is shaming and manipulative and abusive.

Love that is shaming and abusive is an insane, ridiculous concept. Just as insane and ridiculous as the concept of murder and war in the name of God",

Codependence: The Dance of Wounded Souls by Robert Burney

One day several years into my recovery I had one of those insights, those moments of a light bulb going on in my head, that was the beginning of a major paradigm shift for me. It was one of those moments of clarity which caused me to start reevaluating the mental perspectives and definitions that were dictating my emotional reactions to life. My relationships with myself, with life, and with other people - and therefore my emotional reactions to life events and other people's behavior - are dictated by the intellectual framework/paradigm that is determining my perspective and expectations. So the intellectual attitudes, beliefs, and definitions that are determining my perspective and expectations dictate what emotional reactions I have to life - what my relationship to life feels like.


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I am not sure if this particular insight came before or after I had started consciously working on recovery from my codependency issues. I count my codependency recovery as starting on June 3, 1986 - exactly 2 years and 5 months into my recovery in another twelve step program. It was on that day that I realized that my emotional relationship with life was being dictated by the subconscious programming from my childhood - not by the intellectual attitudes, beliefs, and definitions that I had consciously chosen as being what I believed as an adult. To my horror I could see clearly that my behavioral patterns in my adult life were based on the beliefs and definitions that were imposed on me in early childhood. And I could see that even though these subconscious beliefs were based partly on the messages I received, they were even more firmly grounded upon the assumptions that I made about myself and life because of the emotional trauma I had suffered and because of the role modeling of the adults that I had grown up around.

On that day 13 years ago I Truly was able to see and admit to myself that I had been powerless to make healthy choices in my life because the emotional wounds and subconscious programming from my childhood had been dictating my emotional reactions to life, my relationship with myself and life. The saying I had heard in recovery that "if you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting" suddenly became clear. On that day, a paradigm shift occurred that allowed me to see life from a different perspective - a perspective that caused me to become willing to start doing the work necessary to change that intellectual programming and heal those emotional wounds.

That is the way the recovery process has worked for me. I have an insight that allows me to see an issue from a different perspective. Once my perspective has started changing, the paradigm has started shifting, then I can see what needs to be changed in my intellectual programming in order to start changing my emotional reactions. I see where I have been powerless - trapped by old attitudes and definitions - and then I have the power to change my relationship to that issue, which will change my emotional experience of life in relationship to that issue.

(When I started writing this column, I was not planning on focusing so much on the process - oh well, I guess it was necessary, and hopefully will be helpful to my readers. Maybe, I just wanted to include the fact that my 13th anniversary in codependence recovery is upon me. Whatever, I will get on with the column now.)

I don't remember how the particular insight that I am writing about here came about - whether I heard it, or read it, or just had the thought occur (which would mean, to me, that it was a message from my Higher Self/Higher Power - of course any of those methods would be a message from my Higher Power.) In any case, this particular insight struck me with great force. Like most great insights, it was amazingly simple and obvious. It was to me earth shattering/paradigm busting in it's impact. The insight was:

If someone loves you, it should feel like they love you.

What a concept! Obvious, logical, rational, elementary - like, duh! of course it should.


I had never experienced feeling loved consistently in my closest relationships. Because my parents did not know how to Love themselves, their behavior towards me had caused me to experience love as critical, shaming, manipulative, controlling, and abusive. Because that was my experience of love as a child - that was the only type of relationship I was comfortable with as an adult. It was also, and most importantly, the relationship that I had with myself.

In order to start changing my relationship with myself, so that I could start changing the type of relationships I had with other people, I had to start focusing on trying to learn the True nature of Love.

This, I believe, is the Great Quest that we are on. Anyone in recovery, on a healing/Spiritual path, is ultimately trying to find their way home to LOVE - in my belief. LOVE is the Higher Power - the True nature of the God-Force/Goddess Energy/Great Spirit. LOVE is the fabric from which we are woven. LOVE is the answer.

And in order to start finding my way home to LOVE - I first had to start awakening to what Love is not. Here are a few things that I have learned, and believe, are not part of the True nature of Love.

Love is not:

Critical ~ Shaming ~ Abusive~ Controlling ~ Manipulative~ Separating ~ Demeaning ~ Humiliating ~ Discounting ~ Diminishing ~ Belittling ~ Negative~ Traumatic ~ Painful most of the time, etc.

Love is also not an addiction. It is not taking a hostage or being taken hostage. The type of romantic love that I learned about growing is a form of toxic love. The "I can't smile without out you", "Can't live without you". "You are my everything", "You are not whole until you find your prince/princess" messages that I learned in relationship to romantic love in childhood are not descriptions of Love - they are descriptions of drug of choice, of someone who is a higher power/false god.


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Additionally, Love is not being a doormat. Love does not entail sacrificing your self on the altar of martyrdom - because one cannot consciously choose to sacrifice self if they have never Truly had a self that they felt was Lovable and worthy. If we do not know how to Love our self, how to show respect and honor for our self - then we have no self to sacrifice. We are then sacrificing in order to try to prove to ourselves that we are lovable and worthy - that is not giving from the heart, that is co-dependently manipulative, controlling, and dishonest.

Unconditional Love is not being a self-sacrificing doormat - Unconditional Love begins with Loving self enough to protect our self from the people we Love if that is necessary. Until we start Loving, honoring, and respecting our self, we are not Truly giving - we are attempting to take self worth from our behavior towards others.

I also learned that Love is not about success, achievement, and recognition. If I do not Love my self - believe at the core of my being that I am worthy and Lovable - then any success, achievement, or recognition I get will only serve to distract me temporarily from the hole that I feel within, from the feeling of being defective that I internalized as a small child because the love that I received did not feel Loving.

I realized that this is what I had done for much of my life - tried to take self worth from being a nice guy! or from a princess or from becoming a "success". As I started awakening to what Love is not, I could then start exploring to discover the True Nature of Love. I started consciously realizing that this is what I had always been seeking - that my Great Quest in life is to return home to LOVE.

LOVE is the answer. Love is the key. The Great Quest in life is for the Holy Grail that is the True nature of Love.

next: The True Nature of Love - Part II, Love as Freedom

APA Reference
Staff, H. (2008, November 4). The True Nature of Love - Part I, What Love is Not, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, June 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/relationships/joy2meu/true-nature-of-love-part-i-what-love-is-not

Last Updated: August 6, 2014

Do's and Don'ts to Keep or Avoid a Narcissist

Warning: Many have thought they controlled the narcissist, only to find themselves on the flip side.

DO'S
How to Make your Narcissist Dependent on You, if you INSIST on Staying with Him

1.- Listen attentively to everything the narcissist says and agree with it all. Don't believe a word of it but let it slide as if everything is just fine, business as usual.

2.- Personally offer something absolutely unique to the narcissist which they cannot obtain anywhere else. Also be prepared to line up future sources of primary NS for your narcissist because you will not be IT for very long, if at all. If you take over the procuring function for the narcissist, they become that much more dependent on you which makes it a bit tougher for them to pull their haughty stuff - an inevitability, in any case.

3.- Be endlessly patient and go way out of your way to be accommodating, thus keeping the narcissistic supply flowing liberally, and keeping the peace (relatively speaking).

4.- Be endlessly giving. This one may not be attractive to you, but it is a take it or leave it proposition.

5.- Be absolutely emotionally and financially independent of the narcissist. Take what you need: the excitement and engulfment and refuse to get upset or hurt when the narcissist does or says something dumb, rude, or insensitive. Yelling back works really well but should be reserved for special occasions when you fear your narcissist may be on the verge of leaving you; the silent treatment is better as an ordinary response, but it must be carried out without any emotional content, more with the air of boredom and "I'll talk to you later, when I am good and ready, and when you are behaving in a more reasonable fashion".

6.- If your narcissist is cerebral and NOT interested in having much sex - then give yourself ample permission to have "hidden" sex with other people. Your cerebral narcissist will not be indifferent to infidelity so discretion and secrecy is of paramount importance.

7.- If your narcissist is somatic and you don't mind, join in on endlessly interesting group sex encounters but make sure that you choose properly for your narcissist. They are heedless and very undiscriminating in respect of sexual partners and that can get very problematic (STDs and blackmail come to mind).

8.- If you are a "fixer", then focus on fixing situations, preferably before they become "situations". Don't for one moment delude yourself that you can FIX the narcissist - it simply will not happen. Not because they are being stubborn - they just simply can't be fixed.

9.- If there is any fixing that can be done, it is to help your narcissist become aware of their condition, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, with no negative implications or accusations in the process at all. It is like living with a physically handicapped person and being able to discuss, calmly, unemotionally, what the limitations and benefits of the handicap are and how the two of you can work with these factors, rather than trying to change them.

10.- FINALLY, and most important of all: KNOW YOURSELF.
What are you getting from the relationship? Are you actually a masochist? A codependent perhaps? Why is this relationship attractive and interesting?
Define for yourself what good and beneficial things you believe you are receiving in this relationship.
Define the things that you find harmful TO YOU. Develop strategies to minimize the harm to yourself. Don't expect that you will cognitively be able to reason with the narcissist to change who they are. You may have some limited success in getting your narcissist to tone down on the really harmful behaviours THAT AFFECT YOU which emanate from the unchangeable WHAT the narcissist is. This can only be accomplished in a very trusting, frank and open relationship.

DON'TS
How to Avoid the Wrath of the Narcissist

1.- Never disagree with the narcissist or contradict him

2.- Never offer him any intimacy

3.- Look awed by whatever attribute matters to him (for instance: by his professional achievements or by his good looks, or by his success with women and so on)

4.- Never remind him of life out there and if you do, connect it somehow to his sense of grandiosity

5.- Do not make any comment, which might directly or indirectly impinge on his self-image, omnipotence, judgment, omniscience, skills, capabilities, professional record, or even omnipresence. Bad sentences start with: "I think you overlooked ... made a mistake here ... you don't know ... do you know ... you were not here yesterday so ... you cannot ... you should ... (perceived as rude imposition, narcissists react very badly to restrictions placed on their freedom) ... I (never mention the fact that you are a separate, independent entity, narcissists regard others as extensions of their selves, their internalization processes were screwed up and they did not differentiate properly) ..." You get the gist of it.

(Co-authored with Alice Ratzlaff - More here: "The Inverted Narcissist")

 

 


 

 

next: Personality Disorders: Table of Contents

APA Reference
Vaknin, S. (2008, November 4). Do's and Don'ts to Keep or Avoid a Narcissist, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, June 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/personality-disorders/malignant-self-love/how-to-keep-or-avoid-a-narcissist

Last Updated: July 4, 2018