SPOILER ALERT: The HBO family saga, Succession, is a deliciously sadistic four-season study in narcissistic parenting. Anyone familiar with the series already knows that the patriarch of the fictional family, Logan Roy, who looks like Rupert Murdoch, seems intent on manipulating and, ultimately, emotionally destroying his four adult children — Kendall, Shiv, Roman, and the man played by Cameron from the series. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Logan’s narcissism is demonstrated by his apparent desire to control, degrade, belittle, and otherwise intimidate his sons as they vie to take over the family’s sprawling media empire after their father steps down as CEO. As a complete narcissistic parent, Logan knows exactly how to manipulate his children into humiliating themselves for their father’s amusement.
It’s also clear that after a lifetime of living under the hurtful gaze and strict grip of Logan Roy, the children have come to believe – deep down – that their father is right about them when he declares, “I love you, but you’re not serious people.” They believe they deserve his contempt and abuse. Their self-identities are so tied to Logan’s treatment of them that it is unthinkable to try to break free from this narcissistic mold.
In other words, they believe this lie: without Logan, they are nothing.
Of course, characters in prime-time social dramas like Succession have the luxury of not being present between episodes. What’s important about the character dynamic being so comprehensively explored through the lens of the show’s creators is that emotionally abusive behavior like Logan Roy’s toward his children is not fiction. It’s a real problem in a lot of real families.
To better understand how narcissistic parenting impacts adult mental health, we reached out to a panel of parenting experts to ask: What harmful lies do we learn from narcissistic parents? Here are their responses.
Related: If He Does These 6 Things, Yikes! He’s A Covert Narcissist
