4 psychological games that narcissists might play to make them the focus of everyone's attention
Self-centeredness is the main characteristic of every narcissist, that is to say, having the constant need to be the axis around which everything else turns.
Sooner or later in life, it has happened to everyone to meet such a person and without exaggeration, one can describe the experience as one of the most unpleasant and exhausting that one can undergo.
These people exist only for themselves and are able to interact with others only by using them. Here are their main strategies:
- The Blame Game. Narcissists must always point the finger at someone to denigrate them and put themselves on a pedestal above others. They always have a supply of accusations and victims ready to sacrifice to satisfy their morbid hunger for attention.
- Egoistic protagonist. Narcissists must always be at the center of attention in any context. This need leads them to interrupt or intrude on all conversations that do not have them as protagonists. If someone tries to do the same, that person will be immediately and subtly silenced or targeted by the narcissist as a potential threat.
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- Role reversal. Manipulation is an art and a tool that narcissists use to confuse and muddle the facts. They use this technique to alter the truth, modify events, and put the blame for an incident on others. When dealing with such manipulative individuals, one suddenly becomes guilty of something without understanding or realizing how it happened.
- Victimism. A narcissist has neither the ability to understand others nor to empathize, yet they know how to fake these feelings so that others will feel these emotions for them. They are experts at playing the victim; as a person who has been wronged --- to get pity and pull on the heartstrings of those around them.
This description is an oversimplification compared to how convoluted, complex, and devious narcissists really are, yet it can give one an idea and help to perhaps recognize their most dangerous attitudes and behaviors.
The greatest risk is, in fact, that of not immediately identifying this type of person and realizing it when they have already done a lot of damage. This happens because they know how to conceal their true nature but sooner or later it emerges and reveals them for what they really are.
Be advised that it is useless and unproductive to try to counter them, better to simply exclude them from one's life or distance one's self from them and the benefits will be greater well-being, serenity, and self-esteem.
