Number 5: The smear campaign.
Another trick the narcissist uses is to make you look like the problem. For them, smearing your name can be a way of getting back at you, it can also be done when they’re jealous of you. By hurting your reputation and emotional state, they try to damage the image others have of you. What’s interesting is that they will run this smear campaign during good times and in bad times.
This could be a co-worker, a friend, a relationship, or a parent. They’ll be more apparent and outspoken when they smear your name to people who don’t care for you or don’t know you that well. But they won’t stop there, they’ll also smear your name to people who have a high opinion of you; they’ll do this by constantly planting little seeds of doubt, so they don’t look like they’re intentionally trying to undermine you.
But they’ll plant enough seeds so that if anything goes wrong you look like the problem. If they can get you to believe that they have your best interest at heart while smearing your name, you’ll never suspect anything is wrong. If they can get others to believe what they say about you is true. Well, then, of course, you look like the problem.
Number 6: Telling one-sided stories.
Another trick we’ll discuss that narcissist uses to make you look like the problem is telling one-sided stories; they do this not only to make you look like the problem but also to garner pity. When most people tell stories, they’ll tell them in a way that presents both sides so that the listener can get an accurate reflection of what truly happened.
This is not the case with the narcissist. Instead, they’ll tell a one-sided version of what happened between you and those, so they look like the hero or the victim and make you look like the problem. They’ll make sure to leave out any negative role; they may have played to cause any issues.
This goes back to them not wanting to take any accountability for their actions and shifting the blame to someone, or something else to relieve them of the shame and guilt they would have felt had they taken responsibility.
Because to accept blame is to admit they’re flawed. If they can tell the story in a way that makes you look like the victim, they can make you look like the problem. If they can get others to believe that you’ve wronged them in some way, they can garner pity while again making you look like the problem.
Continue reading on the next page
Sharing Is Caring!
