Are you in an intimate relationship with a narcissist? If you're struggling to get help, take a look at what you need to know about narcissistic personality disorder, tele-coaching narcissistic abuse coaching, and the next steps towards rebuilding your life.
What Is Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
Before you work through your feelings or identify a type of therapy that will help you to overcome a history of abuse, you may want to learn more about your partner's (or former partner's) mental health condition. Narcissistic personality disorder (also known as NPD) affects up to five percent of Americans, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Unlike high self-esteem, narcissism is more than just having confidence. Instead, NPD is characterized by an excessively high sense of self-importance, the strong need for admiration from others, an unfounded sense of entitlement, feelings of superiority, lack of empathy or consideration for others and their feelings, and arrogance. Only a qualified mental health or medical provider should diagnose and treat NPD.
How Do Narcissists Abuse Their Partners?
People with NPD often manipulate those around them to get what they want. Whether the narcissist wants love, money, fame, power, or some other form of prestige, they will use a series of tactics or methods to inflate their own self-worth. These may include gaslighting (the narcissist twists facts to distort their partner's sense of reality or memory of events), passive aggression (this could include blame-shifting or sarcastic remarks), and triangulation (the use of a third person to reinforce the narcissist's beliefs).
Manipulation by a narcissist is often subtle at first. This may make you feel guilty or like you're the one with the problem. Over time the manipulation and verbal or emotional abuse may grow. If you act out against your partner or even disagree with them, they may insult you, try to make other people in your life think you're at fault, or gaslight you into thinking the abuse is only in your mind.
How Can Tele-Coaching Help?
Most narcissists won't change their behaviors. While therapy and some medications may help the person in your life with NPD, you need to remove yourself from the abuse and seek treatment for the trauma you have gone through. Narcissistic abuse can cause symptoms such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, difficulty sleeping, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
A trained mental health professional can help you to understand your symptoms and explore ways to overcome the abuse. But you can't get the help you need if you don't have time, the energy, or the transportation to see a professional. A tele-coaching option gives you the chance to get real-time coaching—minus the need for in-person office visits. This makes it possible to fit therapy or treatment into your schedule.