Anxiety Linked To A Narcissist? The Following Five Behaviors Could Be Shown by You

An unbreakable dysfunctional link you form to those who hurt you is known as a trauma bond. It frequently entails treachery, peril, and erratic conduct. The five signs that you are trauma connected to a narcissist are revealed by an expert.

overly defending oneself all the time.
Trauma-bonded victims of narcissistic people are frequently repeatedly tricked into thinking their feelings and reality aren’t as they seem. They’ve been conditioned to doubt themselves and overexplain their viewpoint as a result, frequently when it’s not required. This behavior is deeply rooted in the trauma bond you’ve developed with the narcissist, whether it’s overexplaining yourself to the narcissist in an effort to convince them of the validity of your feelings or finding yourself overexplaining yourself to friends and family because you’ve developed a habit of having to defend yourself. Rather than embodying your basic rights and boundaries and taking positive action, it traps you in a never-ending loop of defending them.

Fawning.
Fawning is a trauma response in which you give in to the demands of a predator in order to lessen the threat and avert danger. In an attempt to survive, a hostage can strive to win over and show kindness to their captor, while a victim of domestic abuse might be cautious around their abuser for fear of reprisals and punishment for speaking out or defending themselves. Trauma-bonded survivors begin to fear occupying space, which leads them to people-please and fawn both inside and outside of the poisonous relationship. Over time, the narcissist has destructively conditioned them to believe that being assertive will result in punishment, threats, humiliation, shame, mockery, or violent attacks. They consequently start “shrinking.”in numerous parts of their lives trying to stay away from expected results.

Minimization and justification of violence.
It takes a lot of internal energies to even survive on your own, let alone get out of a toxic relationship. Because of their Jekyll and Hyde behavior, victims who are constantly experiencing cognitive dissonance about who their victim truly is tend to minimize and excuse the brutality they are going through in order to survive the psychological or even physical abuse. Unfortunately, this coping strategy may put them in even greater danger, therefore assessing the risk of escalation requires expert assistance.

Guard and assurance of the victimizer.
Outsiders frequently question why the victim chose to defend or even go so far as to protect their abusers, or why they did not quit the poisonous connection immediately. When a victim declines to report their abuser or withholds information about the full scope of their mistreatment, loved ones and law police frequently take this action. However, this is also related to the various coping strategies that the brain of a traumatized survivor uses to defend itself and keep the relationship going out of survival instincts and fear of being abandoned.

Learned powerlessness.
The unpredictable nature of such a toxic relationship can leave a victim feeling both addicted to the harmful dynamic and powerless. This is especially true when a survivor has been love bombed mercilessly with excessive care and attention only to confront abrupt withdrawal and cruel sporadic mistreatment. The emotional whiplash of the turbulent relationship can cause them to feel a loss of control and agency, which can lead to a sense of learned helplessness that manifests in other areas of their lives. One minute they may be basking in the glory of the greatest highs, but the next they may feel overwhelmed and oppressed. Because the victim believes they are in love, the cycle appears unbreakable, yet it is more similar to a heroin addiction. The egotistical perpetrator may also make a real attempt to take control of the victim’s life by trying to micromanage their friendships, profession, finances, and other aspects of it in an effort to keep them under close observation.

You are not alone and you should get support if you are in a toxic trauma bond with a narcissist. It can be helpful to look for a trauma-informed practitioner who is knowledgeable with manipulation techniques. You are worthy of taking back control.