• Narcissism - narcissist - narcissistic abuse

    Five Signs of a Vulnerable Narcissist

    The vulnerable narcissist can be difficult to detect. Like a covert narcissist or one who hides his or her tendencies behind a façade of good behavior while undermining others, the vulnerable narcissist has his or her own façade. As the name suggests, the vulnerable narcissist hides behind a façade of weakness. The other two types are easier to detect. After all, a grandiose narcissist is always tooting his own horn and a malignant one has a mean streak a mile wide. My first run-in with a vulnerable narcissist was actually a literary one. C.S. Lewis describes one in his book,…

  • abuse - Codependent Behavior - Controlling Behaviors - narcissistic abuse

    Your Abusive Spouse: When to Leave

    Leave your abusive spouse now.  Before anyone protests the sanctity of the marriage vow, let me say that I don’t take this answer lightly. And let me qualify the term, abusive spouse. Most people are occasionally emotionally ‘abusive’. These days that term is loosely bandied about and it can be difficult to ferret out what one or another individual means by it. Ironically, many abusers accuse their spouses of abusive behavior in an attempt to deflect their own wrongdoing. So let’s be clear by what this term really entails. Many people shut down, withdraw, lose their temper, and sulk. As…

  • Emotion - emotional health - Self-Acceptance - Self-awareness - Self-Destructive - self-improvement

    How Self-Examination Can Save Your Life

    Self-examination is the study of one’s habits, thoughts, and motivations. Most of us are too busy these days to stop and do some careful soul-searching. And why would we? The number of distractions luring us to far more immediately rewarding activities has never been higher. But if you are like me, you have a list of things you would like to accomplish, habits you would like to drop, and maybe some old losses you would like to resolve. Self-examination does not have to be so arduous. In fact, it can become a habit. The danger of foregoing this particular self-discipline…