Darlene Lancer

We all want to get our needs met, but manipulators use underhanded methods. Manipulation is a way to covertly influence someone with indirect, deceptive, or abusive tactics.

Narcissists use defenses to hide their deep and usually unconscious shame. Like bullies, they protect themselves through aggression and by wielding power over others.

Trust is fragile. Secrets and lies jeopardize trust and can damage us and our relationships, sometimes irreparably.

Emotional abandonment has nothing to do with proximity.

We lose ourselves gradually in small imperceptible ways.

Narcissists don’t really love themselves. Actually, they’re driven by shame.

A narcissistic mother who cannot empathize damages her children’s healthy psychological development. Like Narcissus in the Greek myth, she sees only a reflection of herself.