Do you have a narcissist in your life?

Lots of people do. A parent, partner, brother-in-law, boss or child. My brother-in-law and my ex are narcissists.  They're usually men, but not always.

They do always make your life hell.

I didn't know my ex was a narcissist until I saw a therapist. I needed to figure out where I went wrong - and how to get out of it alive. After I told her about him and our relationship, she pegged his behavior as classic narcissism. 

She recommended a book called Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited by Sam Vaknin that changed my life. It’s such a great book because it’s not written in medical terms since it’s by a PhD who’s not a mental health professional but is a narcissist. It’s written so that each chapter answers a frequently asked question. A few of the chapters dedicated to a question are:

How to Recognize a Narcissist

The Narcissist in the Workplace

The Spouse/Mate/Partner of the Narcissist

Narcissists and Children

The Extra-Marital Narcissist

Surviving the Narcissist

But there are 101 frequently asked questions. Yes, 101. There's a chapter for every situation you can think of. There are excerpts from the book on PDF on Smashwords. Amazon has a Kindle edition and the paperback.

Over the weekend, I shared the book title with two friends over lunch. Both have narcissistic brother-in-laws. I got an email back from one of them today that gave me chills. She passed it along to her sister who got it right away and found it helpful. Her sister's ex left her a voice mail at her office threatening to run her over. Fortunately they live in different states, but that doesn't make it any less frightening. Her sister called her the night before because she was having an anxiety attack. She felt like someone had been following her. Then that message from her ex was waiting for her when she arrived at work. 

One of the friends asked me why I let the marriage go on so long. I told her I was afraid to leave. The other friend, the one whose sister got the book, said she was amazed with the similarities in her sister's and my situation. 

The book explained so many mysteries for me and helped me leave. I hope it does for you.

Love to the single girls,

Addison