How Does a narcissist react When He/She Knows He/She is Losing?
How does a narcissist react when he/She Knows He/She is Losing? Narcissists always make it seem like they are all about charisma, charm, confidence, and an attractive personality. But what happens when you know the reality, their true selves with all the controlling, toxicity, and manipulation?
So, knowing, How does a narcissist react when He/She knows He/She is Losing? is all that is presented in this article. This article would be discussing the various details of narcissists’ reactions when they know they are losing against you be it because they no longer have control over you, your ignorance, your confrontation, etc. There are many reasons that can make a narcissist become frenzied.
What is Narcissism? – What is NPD(Narcissistic Personality Disorder)?
To understand NPD(Narcissistic Personality Disorder) or Narcisisim in simple form or pedestrian language, let us put it in simple words. NPD(Narcissistic Personality Disorder) is nothing but portraying these common toxic traits in an intensified state than others. And that is how these common toxic traits that are possessed by all but simply are intensified for a person with narcissistic personality disorder make them a little from others.
Every human possesses these traits of ego, admiration, inquisitiveness, complexity of relationships, self-worth, self-praise, control over situations in life as much as possible, expecting attention from others, some troubles in relationships, rudeness, selfishness, lack of self-reflection, and all such traits that make us human. It is just that people who possess these in more amounts due to certain situations in life, parental pressure, and many more reasons are declared as narcissists and in psychological terms, such people suffer from NPD(Narcissistic Personality Disorder). They portray these emotions or in this case negative traits in a greater magnitude than others.
A mental illness can cause many personality and behavioral changes in a person. So if you come across some strange behavioral pattern of a person, it is either they have some mental health issue, or they are going through some traumatic life situation. If it is the first aspect, then consulting a mental health expert would be advisory.
If a person is diagnosed with NPD(Narcissistic Personality Disorder), then that may be responsible for many behavioral and personality changes for a narcissistic person. So coming across strange behaviors of a narcissistic person would not come to you as a surprise. When you live with a narcissist, you have to be ready to expect the unexpected sometimes. Not every day do you have to be ready for strangeness but there are a few times when a narcissist would act against normalcy, which might shock you or put you into delusion.
General Behaviors and Patterns that are commonly associated with Narcissism
These traits and behavioral tactics may differ from one individual to another, but these are some of the generalized behavioral patterns that can be commonly associated with almost many narcissists in general,
Self-Centeredness – Narcissists often prioritize their interests, needs, and benefits above others.
Manipulativeness – Narcissists can be skilled at manipulating others to what they want.
Lack of Empathy – Narcissists may have difficulty understanding or caring about the feelings of others.
Grandiosity – Narcissists often have an inflated sense of self-importance and may exaggerate their accomplishments or talents.
Lack of Accountability – Narcissists may resist taking responsibility for their actions which may be an impediment to others, yet they would blame someone else for their mistakes and never take accountability for their actions.
Need for Admiration – Narcissists always yearn for constant praise, admiration, attention, and appreciation.
What is a Narcissist?
A Narcissist is an individual who is often defined as a difficult individual, very difficult to live with, and tough to endure. A Narcissist is an individual who is excessively obsessed to have control, also they expect everyone around them to focus just on them.
They intend to be the center of attraction in all situations. They should be the elephant in the room all the time, are control freaks, are sly, mean, selfish, and much more. Most importantly Narcissists lack empathy on many occasions until it affects them. Narcissists do know empathy, but they never tend to caring, understanding, and easygoing for others as they think vulnerability and being soft to others are negative traits that can be used against them.
A narcissist is capable of feeling all emotions, it is just that they d not acknowledge them and express them due to their vulnerabilities. They fear expressing emotions can make them emotionally weak and vulnerable to their partner. They fear that once they surrender to their feelings they might lose control. Narcissists are incapable of understanding and exchanging feelings with others. They are self-obsessed and self-absorbed.
How Does a narcissist react When He/She Knows He/She is Losing?
Narcissism is a personality disorder that affects probably a significant number of people. Narcissists rely on their narcissistic supply to function appropriately for their day-to-day tasks. Narcissists often display a range of troubling behaviors which are totally moral for them but can be troublesome for others.
These troubling behavioral gambits include a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and an inability to accept criticism. narcissists build a fake facade of confidence, power, and self-assurance on the surface, but beneath that fake surface lies the true self of that individual which is manipulative, seeks constant admiration, controls almost everything, feels insecure all the time, and is vulnerable to many life situations and circumstances.
When a narcissist finds themselves losing in any situation and especially control or face a potential threat to their ego, their inflated self-image, and their believability, they react in a few ways or manner. So let us explore some of the typical reactions of a narcissist when they feel their power or control is slipping away.
1. Denial and Dismissal
One of the most habitual reactions of a narcissist is denial and dismissal. When presented with evidence that contradicts or raises questions regarding their inflated sense of self, they may deny to acknowledge it or just downplay its significance.
For example, if a narcissistic CEO is faced or presented with some claims and data suggesting the underperformance of their company, they would immediately dismiss such claims and data. They would claim this data is inefficient or inaccurate and would just ignore such a claim. This would help the narcissistic CEO to maintain a sense of control over the situation and avoid feelings of vulnerability.
2. Blame Shifting
Blame shifting is also one of the most commonly used tactics by a narcissist. When something does not go according to a narcissist’s wish or plan, or when something goes wrong or a mistake is made, a narcissist would definitely deflect responsibility and place the blame on someone else.
For example, if a narcissistic parent’s child has some behavioral issues, they may blame it either on the teacher of the school they are visiting, the friends of the child, or even the child themselves for not becoming someone who is not up to the mark. They would not examine their own parenting practices. This is the tactic that would allow narcissistic parents to avoid feelings of guilt, shame, and responsibility and would just focus on protecting their fragile egoistic self-image.
3. Depression
The narcissist may become sad, depressed, or unhappy when they realize they are losing. This may lead to feelings like hopelessness, despair, anguish, and melancholy.
4. Aggression and Anger
Narcissists may react aggressively over losing control or power. Rage is the narcissist’s first and only reaction to all kinds of mishaps. When they perceive a threat to their ego, they may lash out at those they feel are responsible. This can take various forms like verbal abuse or even physical violence.
What is Narcissistic Rage?
Narcissistic rage is a counter-reaction or a defense mechanism utilized by a narcissist to shield themselves and save their grandiosity, superiority, esteem, self-worth, and their shiny spotless image from the arrows of setback, shame, inefficiency, disappointment, vulnerabilities, and anything that can devalue their worth.
Rage is usually defined as an extremely violent and out-of-control anger burst. The intensity of hostility, wrath, outrage, and outburst of violent words and actions is higher with rage as compared to anger. Rage is one of their most used emotion and when a narcissist is hurt by someone else, they would take it out on the person who is closest to them. Sometimes a narcissist just shuts down their emotions and chooses methods like rage, ignoring, silent treatment, blocking, or even disappearing for days.
A narcissist’s thought processes and reflexes are a little impossible to predict precisely. They act impulsively out of rage when proven wrong or pointed fingers at. Narcissists are passive-aggressive beings, who fail to connect emotionally with their loved ones hence they use various methods to feel powerful. Their actions always differ from what they have to say or believe.
For example, If a narcissistic partner feels threatened by their significant partner’s success, they may lash out and attempt to sabotage their partner’s career.
5. Withdrawal and Isolation
Narcissists may react to losing either by withdrawing or isolating themselves. They may break the relationship with their partner or disengage from relationships, stop socializing, or become self-destructive. This withdrawal or isolation may stem from a fear of vulnerability or loss of control.
For example, if a narcissistic person with political powers loses some sort of an election gambit due to public opinion and votes, then such a person would sort to retreat from people altogether, and would not engage with media or supporters anytime in their lifetime.
6. Extreme Measures
In some cases, a narcissist may choose to resort to extreme measures when they are faced with the loss of control or power. Such extreme measures can include unethical or illegal behavior such as cheating, lying, stealing, breaking the law, hurting people physically, or doing something felonious. Narcissists can do anything to maintain their sense of control and superiority even if it includes sacrificing their ethics or morals.
Why do narcissists cheat?
Narcissists have a huge ego to satisfy. Narcissists have zero control over themselves. They get easily distracted wherever they get a little attention as they are big attention seekers. Narcissists have no term for guilt or remorse in their dictionary. All they do is make you feel guilty for something that they have done. But they would never be guilty or ashamed of what they have done due to their high ego and zero self-control.
They cheat on you when the narcissist feels that the charm and chase are over, the excitement and lust are gone, the purpose (whatever they have been using you for like money, physical intimacy, just to cop with their former breakup or a fresh supply) is over, and they finally can no longer use you for their gains; these can be some of the most common reasons why narcissist would cheat on you.
For example, if an ex-partner of a narcissist may seem moving on or going on dating another partner, then the narcissist might launch a smear campaign against their ex-partner, or tarnish their reputation by spreading rumors regarding their character. They can play cheap moves like posting adulterated pictures, comments, or anything that can hurt their reputation.
What is the Narcissist’s Smear Campaign?
The Narcissist’s Smear Campaign is when the narcissist presents someone as bad and lies to others about what that someone has been doing to them. Narcissists can lie bluntly to save themselves and their image and destroy someone else’s image just to save their own image. Narcissists smear your image when they can no longer control you or have you, or when they want to teach you some sort of lesson just because you did not act according to the way they want.
When you end the relationship with the narcissist, or when they break up with you this is when the narcissist undertakes the smear campaign to make themselves feel better, to satisfy their ego, and to maintain their image in society.
They would exaggerate the situation, twist the plot of the story of what they did to you, present it as something you did to them, would ask everyone to believe just their part of the story, and would conceal your part, would tell others the half-truth of the situation and how they were the victim in the situation, would tell lies about you, or just present it completely as they were innocent and you victimized them by doing the wrong with them.
A narcissist would not hesitate even once to spread rumors about you and would tell all sorts of stories and lies to turn people around you against you. They would wish all people just cut ties with you and then you have to rely on them. They would not allow people to know your side of the story.
Why are Narcissists so controlling?
Narcissists are controlling because they believe that they are far superior to others and feel entitled to control everything around them. They have a deep-rooted need for power, dominance, and superiority over others. They maintain their sense of superiority and control by manipulating and exploiting others.
Gaining control is like having a defense mechanism for a narcissist to maintain their sense of security and self-worth. Controlling everything is like creating a buffer space to escape their own feeling of self-doubt, inadequacy, and shortcomings for a narcissist. They may hide their real selves or entities in this buffer space to escape the reality of the situation.
Controlling behavior is a core part of the narcissistic personality and is totally driven by a desire to seek dominance, self-preservation, and power over others.
In Conclusion
Narcissism is a personality disorder that affects probably a significant number of people. Narcissists rely on their narcissistic supply to function appropriately for their day-to-day tasks. Narcissists often display a range of troubling behaviors which are totally moral for them but can be troublesome for others.
These troubling behavioral gambits include a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and an inability to accept criticism. narcissists build a fake facade of confidence, power, and self-assurance on the surface, but beneath that fake surface lies the true self of that individual which is manipulative, seeks constant admiration, controls almost everything, feels insecure all the time, and is vulnerable to many life situations and circumstances.
When a narcissist finds themselves losing in any situation and especially control or face a potential threat to their ego, their inflated self-image, and their believability, they react in a few ways or manner. Controlling behavior is a core part of the narcissistic personality and is totally driven by a desire to seek dominance, self-preservation, and power over others. So the reactions mentioned above in the article, are some of the commonly expected reactions of a narcissist to losing or losing control and the power they gain with it.
Overall, for concluding this article, how a narcissist reacts when they lose totally depends on their individual personality, behavioral traits, and various coping mechanism. However, it is likely that they will experience a range of negative emotions and may struggle to accept the fact that they are losing or have lost already, as narcissists cannot accept anything that hinders their inflated egoistic self and their shiny fake image of being a perfect being.
From Relationship, Depression, and Personality Disorder to Narcissistic problems, I have helped a lot of people find their solutions. Upon gathering a number of common problems that people face, I decided to put the information on this blog so that anyone can get their answers easily.
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