Narcissist and Incest: The Incestuous Narcissist and Psychopath
Incest is an auto-erotic act that involves the objectification of the partner, transforming them into an object. The narcissist overvalues and then devalues their sexual partner, and they cannot see the other’s point of view or plight. As siblings and progeny grow older, the narcissist begins to see their potential to be edifying, satisfactory, and reliable sources of narcissistic supply. The narcissist’s inability to acknowledge and abide by the personal boundaries set by others puts their children at a heightened risk of abuse, verbal, emotional, physical, and often sexual.
Abuse Victim’s Body: Effects of Abuse and Its Aftermath
Abuse and torture have long-lasting and frequently irreversible effects on the victim’s body, including panic attacks, hypervigilance, sleep disturbances, flashbacks, intrusive memories, and suicidal ideation. Victims experience psychosomatic or real bodily symptoms, some of them induced by the secretion of stress hormones, such as cortisol. Victims are affected by abuse in a variety of ways, including PTSD, which can develop in the wake of verbal and emotional abuse, in the aftermath of drawn-out traumatic situations such as domestic divorce.
Psychology of Torture Victim
Torture causes victims to lose their mental resilience and sense of freedom, leading to alienation and an inability to communicate or empathize with others. The victim may identify with the torturer, leading to traumatic bonding and a craving for pain. Torture is an act of deep, traumatic indoctrination that can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and other psychological sequelae. Victims often feel helpless and powerless, and bystanders may feel guilty and ashamed for not preventing the atrocity. The victim’s attempts to repress memories can result in psychosomatic illnesses.
Why People Torture and Abuse
Torture can be functional or sadistic. Functional torture is calculated to extract information or punish, while sadistic abuse fulfills the emotional needs of the perpetrator. Perpetrators often feel out of control and resort to torture to reassert control over their lives. Many offenders derive pleasure and satisfaction from sadistic acts of humiliation, and sadism is rooted in deviant sexuality. Torture rarely occurs where it does not have the sanction and blessing of the authorities, especially in totalitarian societies.
Narcissism: Blessing or Dysfunction?
Pathological narcissism is an addictive behavior that involves an impaired, dysfunctional, and immature true self coupled with a compensatory piece of fiction known as the false self. Narcissists are obsessed with delusions of fantastic grandeur and superiority, and they are very competitive. They are driven, relentless, tireless, and often ruthless. However, three traits conspire to render the narcissist a failure and a loser: his sense of entitlement, his haughtiness and innate conviction of his own superiority, and his aversion to routine.
Narcissist’s Cycles of Ups and Downs
Narcissists go through cycles of mania and depression, which are caused by external events or circumstances known as triggers. The cycles are different from manic depressive cycles in bipolar disorder, which are endogenous. The narcissist is addicted to narcissistic supply and seeks admiration, adoration, approval, attention, and so on. The narcissist goes through ups and downs, including a depressive phase, a hibernation phase, and a manic phase, which are all part of the process of obtaining and securing narcissistic supply.
Abuse Victim’s New Year Resolutions
In this video, Professor Sam Vaknin outlines seven promises that individuals should make to themselves in order to demand respect and preserve their self-worth. These promises include setting clear boundaries, being assertive about needs and emotions, treating others with respect, and terminating relationships with abusers. Vaknin encourages viewers to make these promises to themselves and to email him with specific topics they would like him to address in future videos.
Abuse Victims Fear Holidays, Birthdays
Holidays can be a nightmare for victims of family violence and abuse, especially when the offender has narcissistic or antisocial psychopathic personality disorders. Holidays provoke a particularly virulent strain of pathological envy in abusers with these disorders. The narcissistic and psychopathic abuser feels deprived and wants to spoil the party for everyone else. It is important to set boundaries and punish misbehavior and maltreatment.
Narcissism, Friendship, Egoism: Self-Interest is not Self-Welfare
Narcissists fail to meet the criteria for friendship, as they lack empathy, have cognitive deficits, and are impulsive and predictable. True egoism is the active pursuit of self-welfare, not just self-interest, and altruism is the outcome of social conditioning to avoid anxiety. The optimal mix of self-interest and altruism exists for individuals and society, and the narcissist fails to understand this due to their lack of empathy and inability to optimize their behavior.
Loving Gaze, Adulating Gaze: False vs. True Self
In the film, The Beaver, the protagonist’s false self is represented by a puppet in the shape of a beaver. The beaver is everything the protagonist is not, and the true self is derided by the beaver as a dysfunctional wreck. The false self relies on adulation and attention for maintenance, while the true self needs a loving gaze to sustain itself. The false self is concocted by the narcissist to fend off and ameliorate hurt and pain, and the narcissist is emotionally invested in the false self.