The Aging Narcissist – Do They Mellow Down With Age?
What is the truth of the aging narcissist? Do they mellow down with age? Though it is difficult to anticipate the truth about their deterioration over time, one thing is for sure, with age changes become an intrinsic part of our existence. Thus nobody can remain unblemished or unaltered with the impacts of aging.
A person can never be the same, over time, as changes occur and people change. This fact may seem undigestible for narcissists, as they believe that they are immortal or unchangeable and age does not harm them.
Nobody can escape the changes that life brings with time, and thus narcissists are also a part of these processes, even though they may wish to deny the fact that aging does not deteriorate their being.
Narcissistic traits may never completely go away and a person may proceed with gradual changes slow and steady, if they are headstrong about changes. Thus narcissistic behavior, personality traits, and the toxic personality of an individual may not be significantly changed with age.
Narcissistic traits are deep-rooted in a person’s behavior and thus it is challenging to change them as their resistance to changes is unbeatable, aging may not affect their personality but external environmental factors may.
There is also a possibility that narcissistic traits can intensify with age, as changes accompany aging and narcissists do not like changes. Thus they may become even more defensive and try harder to compensate for the losses like changes in physical appearance, energy drain, cognitive changes, and so on that come with aging.
All in all, for narcissists, aging may be perceived negatively making them even more challenging to deal with, as they are trying to overcompensate for losing their grip on aspects like controlling others, deteriorating self-importance, lost influence, changing physical appearances, and so on.
This article sheds light on facts about aging narcissists, and how it becomes extremely challenging for people around them to manage and maintain relationships with them due to the changes in their behavior.
Understanding the aging Narcissist
A narcissist is someone who suffers from a mental health disorder that affects their life so much that it may hinder them and the people around them too. Narcissism is a mental health disorder in which people have an inflated sense of self, a lack of empathy, a constant need for admiration, adoration, and validation, have deep-rooted insecurities and project them onto others to feel fulfilled, resist negatively to criticism and are emotionally dependent on others.
Now when you come across an aging narcissist, it is necessary to understand how narcissism affects them over time and how some specific behaviors can worsen over age.
An aging narcissist may lose their ability to control people, as they may face limitations in the form of changes in their physical health.
Their thoughts may also change, as these changes may amplify their negative emotions. This can be reflected in their behavior too. They can become more bitter, more furious, more defensiveness, meaner, and emotionally disconnected from others.
Narcissists can lose interest in the things they once liked, suffer mood swings, and also their social image can be perceived differently. Thus these changes can be huge for some narcissists and thus their rage can be at its peak when they age.
The Aging Narcissist and the significant changes they go through over time
Aging people can undergo various significant changes with age, and thus narcissists are also going to change naturally. So let us know some significant impacts of aging over various aspects of life,
Physical Changes
Aging is naturally going to change your appearance. But this fact may not be completely digested by narcissists, as they like to believe that they are intact even with time. This makes it even more difficult to deal with them, as they are not ready to accept the changes in physical appearance with age.
Youth begins to fade, charm begins to dissipate, attractiveness and appeal tend to mellow down and beauty begins to diminish.
Psychological Changes and Impact
Aging impacts a person’s psychology. With age, a person retires and loses the physical ability to work, and sometimes a loss of purpose leads to added difficulties in life. Narcissists find it more and more difficult to relate to others of the same age, due to their depreciating self-esteem.
Negative Impacts of Aging on Narcissists
Coping with declining abilities
With age, people lose a few physical and psychological abilities, leading to a decline in cognitive abilities like decision-making, apt thinking, and emotional responsiveness. Age also slows down the physical abilities of a person as the energy drain is quicker as compared to younger people.
A struggle with vulnerability
Aging and vulnerability go hand in hand. People become vulnerable to feelings, and emotions. People become dependent on others for their needs as they age, making them reluctant. This can make a narcissist worry as narcissists never wish to be perceived as someone vulnerable to their emotions and co-dependent.
Thus, an aging narcissist becomes lonely as they do not like to be approached or approach others, and thus, they push people away.
Dealing with loss of control
The ability to maintain control and power declines as a person ages. This is the worst fear of a narcissist. Thus, this fear negatively impacts their behavior making them more manipulative and toxic.
They may be angry and might avoid socializing altogether as they believe that people may perceive them as powerless and unimportant.
The Untold Truths about an aging narcissist
Struggles with Mortality
Narcissists have a fallacy superstition that they are immortal as their sense of self makes them immune to the reality of aging and death. But when they witness the changes that take place in their physical and mental health, it can give them a hard time living as they become aware of the consequences of aging and death.
This realization can result in panic, anxiety, worry, or even existential crisis. They may even try desperate measures to hold on to their youth.
Increased Isolation
Narcissists may lose their charm and ability to abuse and manipulate people, which may result in feelings of abandonment. They may feel isolated and may also feel lonely thus they may demand more attention which can push away people from them. Thus, they struggle to maintain relationships and friendships.
Thus these negative feelings can result in rejection and withdrawal. They may also not be able to establish genuine connections with people due to a lack of empathy.
Disrupted Narcissistic Supply
Narcissists thrive on admiration, attention, and validation from others, which is known as narcissistic supply. However as they age, their ability to attract people and maintain a stable supply of emotions and feelings.
They may struggle to get what they desire, and thus pent-up feelings may turn into resentment and frustration, and they may also feel powerless making them drawn to rage and anger.
Intensified Narcissistic Traits
Due to diminishing physical health and appearance, struggle to maintain their power, inclination towards isolation, unsettling narcissistic supply, and losing control the narcissistic traits may gain an intensified state.
A narcissist can become more self-absorbed, attention-seeking, demanding, and out of control to regain power and control. This intensified narcissistic behavior can push people away from them making them lonely and all by themselves.
Paranoia and a Control Freak
As narcissists age, they may face a loss of control and power. These subdued feelings can turn into anxiety, insecurity, and fear of being forgotten. To maintain their power, some narcissists may turn paranoid, making them vulnerable to feelings of getting exposed and being viewed as weak and incapable.
Aging can also increase the stress levels for a narcissist, and this increases their toxic behavior too. As narcissist age, they may have fewer resources available that may ensure their social support, financial stability, and physical power and strength.
Thus, narcissists can be more paranoid and controlling as they age.
The Aging Narcissist – Do they mellow down with age?
The bitter truth about narcissistic traits is that they do not go away with age. There may not be any significant changes in narcissistic behavior and abuse as narcissists age.
While some narcissists may forge the subtle, their real personality may not be able to accept the changes and thus they may not mellow down out of realization, due to environmental factors.
It is also important to note that some narcissists may also mellow down with age out of guilt, remorse, and resentment.
There may certainly be a few changes in narcissistic behavior, but these changes may not be significant. The aging process may not be able to bring fundamental changes in their behavior.
The relationship between narcissism and aging is complex. However, the important thing is that not all narcissists become closed-minded, inflexible, and difficult and thus the relationship between aging, and narcissism can vary depending upon the degree of narcissism and personality development of individuals.
In Conclusion
The bitter truth about narcissistic traits is that they do not go away with age. There may not be any significant changes in narcissistic behavior and abuse as narcissists age.
Narcissism is not some disease that is transmitted overnight, but it is a mental health disorder that is ingrained into an individual’s behavior and mannerisms over time.
So, the prevalence and intensity of these narcissistic traits can gradually be subtle and also wane with time, but these traits may never go away completely.
Yet there is no guarantee that these traits wane as people age. Waning of certain traits is a phenomenon that may happen to many people, but these traits may never go away completely.
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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