If you are in an abusive relationship, there is a good chance that the person who abused you is a narcissist, a sociopath, or both. A narcissistic (or dysfunctional) sociopath is what you might call someone who has both narcissistic and sociopathic traits—a really dangerous type of person.
What makes them so cunning is that they know how to hurt their victims and how to keep their victims around.
Here are some of the most common things narcissistic sociopaths use to torture and control their victims, and why you should bail when you notice their presence in your relationship.
Related:What It Means To Love A Narcissist — 3 Ways They Hurt You & 5 Ways To Get Your Self-Esteem Back
1. Emotional blackmail
This abuse tactic mainly takes advantage of the fact that you have a conscience. They will blame you when you stand up for yourself, make you feel bad for rejecting them, and tell you that if you love them, you will do what they say.
Drug patients like to use this because it will make you think you’re the bad guy, even if you haven’t done anything wrong – and this makes it easier for them to blame you for their mistakes.
2. Isolation
Have you ever noticed how most people in abusive relationships tend to isolate themselves from friends? This is because drug addicts hate positive people in their victims’ lives because that makes them feel more powerful.
Empowered people have the strength to stand up to drug addicts, and drug addicts don’t like that. the solution? Forcing you to exclude your friends from your life. If you don’t cut people yourself, they may go so far as to tarnish your name so that others will cut you for you.
3. Gaslighting
Gaslighting is a tactic that is all about making you feel crazy. This happens when they continue to insist that the things that happened did not happen.
They may also make you question whether you are actually as educated in a subject as you think, as a way to undermine your confidence in your intellect. The less confident you are that you are sane, the more you depend on them, and that is what they want.
4. Undermining your self-confidence
Drug addicts are all about undermining your self-esteem with indirect compliments, criticism, and subtle jabs. The reason they do this is because it makes them feel good about themselves and makes it easier to control them. People with low self-esteem are less likely to leave their partners, after all.
Related: What Being In A Relationship With A Narcissist Really Does To A Person
5. Withdrawal of affection
Drug patients are about controlling people and boosting their self-esteem at any cost. If they know you love them, they will sometimes withdraw your affection just to make you nervous. Withdrawal of affection can also be used as punishment for refusing to do what the drug addict asks of you.
6. Love bombing
What gets most people addicted to narcissists in the first place is love bombing, which is a tactic that revolves around attracting someone into a relationship with them. Lovebombing is about making someone feel special and happy, and then making them dependent on their affection. Beware if someone is too affectionate too quickly – this is often a sign that he or she is bombarding you with love.
7. Triangulation
If there’s one thing drug addicts are known for, it’s pitting people against each other in order to maintain control over someone. They may invent love triangles that don’t exist, or try to get people to compete over them.
They may also start using other people to “pool” with you when you try to leave them. For example, they may try to convince your family members to stay if they think you will leave them.
8. Using threats or physical violence
Drug addicts use threats and physical violence to get their way, but most of the time, this is a last resort. Their need for control is what makes them do it, not “because they like you.”
