You’ve heard of narcissists and sociopaths, but what if someone had to have traits of both disorders? That’s when you have a narcopath on your hands.
Trust me, if you end up dating someone with these qualities, you’ll want to get out of the relationship ASAP before it destroys you.
Here’s what a narcopath is and how to tell if your partner is one. The more you know, the better equipped you’ll be to protect yourself.
1. A narcopath has serious issues
I’ve already mentioned that a narcopath has characteristics of both narcissists and sociopaths. While that’s already troubling in itself, it gets worse – they not only know how to hurt the people in their lives (their “victims”) but also how to prevent them from walking away.
2. A narcopath is a confusing blend
On the one hand, a narcopath will be cold and withdrawn but, on the other, desperate for others’ admiration. While they seem to want love, they will hate people and try to exploit them for personal gain. They can’t help themselves.
3. A narcopath is after control
It’s all about gaining power for the narcopath. He or she will want to have power over others and won’t think anything of using love and others’ praise to control and manipulate people. There’s nothing worse to someone like this than not being in total control of a situation or not having the upper hand.
4. A narcopath love bombs you
You’ve probably heard of love bombing, the dating trend of coming on too strong with someone and showing them with attention. When you’re on the receiving end of this, you might think that the person’s really smitten with you, but there could be (and usually is) a big catch.
5. A narcopath withdraws out of the blue
After giving you tons of attention and praise, a narcopath will then suddenly withdraw, leaving you to wonder what’s going on. This is all part of their game to try to control you and get the upper hand.
6. A narcopath loves to punish people
A narcopath’s silence or emotional withdrawal can stem from how they love to punish you with the silent treatment. You’ll be left wondering what you did to them, meanwhile, you’ve done nothing. It’s crazy. It’s not only manipulative and abusive, it’s incredibly immature too.
7. A narcopath makes you the bad guy
If you’re dating a narcopath, you’ll regularly feel like you’ve done something wrong or hurt them in some way. They never take responsibility for anything. For example, if you confront them about how nasty they were to you, they’ll try to turn the situation around so that you feel guilty for something you’ve done. Yikes.
8. A narcopath gives you backhanded compliments
If you’re getting negged by a narcopath or you regularly receive jabs during conversation that hack at your self-esteem, get used to it because a narcopath will love doing this to undermine you and gain control. It’s so sick, but they actually feel good about themselves when they rattle or insult others.
