Trying to converse with a narcissist is like living in the Twilight Zone. Okay, it’s a little dramatic, but not entirely far from the truth. It’s almost like you’re on a different planet. In fact, sometimes it feels like you’re speaking a different language. In this article, I want to talk about seven strategies that narcissists use when conversing with you or during a disagreement.
The reason I want to focus on these seven strategies is that one of the reasons we go through so much emotional turmoil when we’re in a relationship with a narcissist is because we don’t realize what they’re doing during conversations. We think they’re communicating like us, but they’re not. They have a completely different agenda. Once we start to realize this, once we shine a light on their hidden strategies, we can begin to take our power back.
So, let’s get started with strategy number one: Invalidation. Something that’s very frustrating about narcissists is their inability to validate your feelings or viewpoints. Now, validation isn’t about completely agreeing with someone or seeing eye to eye on everything. Validation is simply acknowledging someone’s point of view—listening to what they’re saying and caring enough to let them know that they are seen and heard. Narcissists never validate. What they often do to avoid validation is blame-shift. Rather than focusing on their behavior, they quickly change the conversation to something they claim you’ve done wrong.
continue reading on the next page
Sharing is caring!