"Narcissistic abuse syndrome can take a severe toll on a person's emotional health over time," noted Dr. Parmar. It can lead to other mental illnesses—like depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
Symptoms of anxiety and depression after narcissistic abuse are common. Psychological abuse often leaves victims feeling hypervigilant or constantly fixated on the narcissist's next attack. Likewise, constant abuse and criticism can lead to hopelessness, sadness, and general distress.
Chronic abuse can lead to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially in victims who experienced other traumas. The result of narcissistic abuse can also include a pervasive sense of shame, overwhelming feelings of helplessness, and emotional flashbacks.
The Brains Narcissistically Abused Children
Children of narcissists also, like their parent(s), form brain damage from maltreatment. When children suffer at the hands of a narcissistic abuser, some crucial brain regions are affected, including damage to the hippocampus and amygdala.
Over time, this can increase the risk of depression and anxiety. Suicidal thoughts or behaviors: A narcissist may feel suicidal following a narcissistic rage outburst if they are overwhelmed by shame. They may also make threats of self-harm as a manipulation tactic.
Other physical symptoms of chronic stress from narcissistic abuse are: Intensified insomnia. The excess stress may make it hard for you to sleep or practice healthy sleeping habits. You risk suffering a stroke or heart attack because your heart is overworking trying to pump blood from the reoccurring stress.
As a result, victims become depressed, anxious, lack confidence and they may hide from the spotlight and allow their abusers to steal the show again and again. Realize that your abuser is not undercutting your gifts because they truly believe you are inferior; it is because those gifts threaten their control over you.
The four stages of the narcissistic abuse cycle are: Idealization, Devaluation, Repetition, and Discard. In this cycle, a narcissistic partner may love-bomb you, devalue your sense of self over time, repeat the pattern, and eventually, discard you and/or the relationship.
Mental Breakdowns
A narcissist may have a breakdown if their supply is cut off and they feel vulnerable, embarrassed, or out of control.
People with narcissistic personality disorder tend not to perceive that they themselves may have a mental health problem, and thus may be less likely to seek evaluation or treatment.
Experiencing narcissistic abuse syndrome can also result in symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Symptoms include emotional triggers, flashbacks, isolation, detachment, avoidance, and hypervigilance, noted Forman.
Can narcissism and psychosis co-occur? Yes. You can have both psychosis and narcissistic personality disorder. If this happens, a mental health professional may diagnose a comorbid disorder that fits the experienced psychotic symptoms.
Narcissists and psychopaths are disordered in their thoughts (not in the way that schizophrenics are), disordered in emotion processing, and disordered in their sense of self. Personality disorders just happens to 'look' very different from our other mental disorders – they are in a class or category of their own.
Psychological trauma from their abuse will not just go away. In fact, this type of abuse can cause long lasting post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. The abuse from a narcissist is overwhelming. It is hard to identify and sufferers tend to blame themselves and continue to suffer long after the relationship is over.
Narcissists exploit those around them through gaslighting, sabotaging, love-bombing, lying, and twisting situations to suit their needs. As a result, victims can suffer long-term effects from their abuse.
Narcissistic parents are often emotionally abusive to their children, holding them to impossible and constantly changing expectations. Those with narcissistic personality disorder are highly sensitive and defensive. They tend to lack self-awareness and empathy for other people, including their own children.
Malignant narcissists cause severe destruction to our lives and our psyches – what's more, as you can tell from these horrifying stories, they sadistically take pleasure in causing that destruction. They set you up to look like the perpetrator while they play the victims.
As a narcissistic abuse survivor, you will likely have symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Your brain will be on high alert, looking out for danger. This is because the traumatic events triggered a fight or flight response within you. As a result, anything associated with those memories can trigger an anxiety attack.
Many narcissists, at some point or other, do become aware of the effect their behaviors have on other people, but they are completely indifferent to it.
Type As can also be dangerous to narcissists
Although they can be targeted, type A people can also become a narcissist's worst nightmare. One of the most important defenses against dark personalities is having strong boundaries yourself, and type A people are usually aware they have the right to build them.
Narcissists are highly sensitive to criticism or any perceived threat to their self-image, and they will go to great lengths to protect it. If you criticize them or challenge their dominance, you will trigger a defensive response.
Overall, the analysis shows that feelings of superiority and entitlement can lead narcissistic people to attack others in an aggressive manner, sometimes even violently. People high in narcissism believe they are special and deserve special treatment.