Living with a Collapsed Narcissist
People close to collapsed narcissists may feel like they’re “walking on eggshells” around them, says Craig Malkin, psychologist and author of “Rethinking Narcissism,” to Business Insider. “There’s this feeling of the air being sucked out of the room and that you’re failing if you’re not attending at all times to their pain and their suffering,” he said. Narcissists may express their pain but be unable to explain why it hurts, often because that requires vulnerability. This puts people around them in a difficult situation, because the narcissist may berate them and demand attention, but it’s not someone else’s job to fix their ego. Therefore, Cromer recommends having a good support system that doesn’t include the narcissist to stay grounded and self-assured.