Narcissistic people aren’t healthy for any relationship. Their high self-esteem, grandiose sense of entitlement, self-centered behavior seek a perennial supply of valuation and attention. To acquire that, narcissists follow malevolent behaviors like abuse, manipulation, and gaslighting. But, have you ever wondered, “How can some people have a prolonged relationship with a narcissist?” Well, this article will clear that up for you.
Narcissists find attention, valuation, and admiration of others as a source to fulfill the never-ending hollow mind. If someone validates the narcissists, they visualize the person as a quality source of supply, and so, they make efforts to build a relationship with them. Thus, a narcissistic relationship will be established and the narcissist can excavate constant validation from the partner.
The one with a narcissistic personality sees attention, appraisals, controls, or other extrinsic assets as worthy. With that said, narcissists do not value their partner’s emotions, love expectations, and needs. So, it requires an immense sacrifice to have a long-lasting relationship with the narcissist.
Let’s see the types of people who will endure such abuse and sacrifices to make the narcissistic relationship work.
What types of people make the narcissistic relationship work?
Being married or having any relationship with a narcissist or can be exhaustive and abusive. You cannot follow your dreams, be happy with others, or have personal growth with a narcissist in a relationship. Instead, you will end up spending your energy and time validating them. It almost looks like you are living their life or the life how they want you to have.
The only people who can bear the constant discarding, abuse, gaslighting, and manipulation of the narcissist and expect nothing in return can be in a narcissistic relationship. There are people who indeed have traits to attract narcissists to have long-lasting relationships.
Narcissists can go picky about selecting people with such traits as being empathetic, kind, monogamous, and emotionally weak as a partner. Although it might differ, these are the people who can sustain a narcissistic relationship longer.
- Healers
- Relationship Keepers
- Reputable
- Insecure ones
- Betas
- Dark triad personalities
are the people who are capable of bargaining their life to live in a narcissistic relationship.
1. Healers
A person who is a healer believes in changing others by showing empathy and kindness. People with a healing mentality always look for people who are insecure, hurt, and toxic to provide support and advice. Such healers are good validators, lovers and are a healthy source of supply to narcissists.
While being in a narcissistic relationship, discarding and other malicious traits will start appearing once the narcissist finds the source is not enough. Healing personality people believe in changing such traits in time by showering with love and validation. Although the relationship is abusive and blame-shifting, these types of people stick to their belief of changing a narcissist.
Can a narcissist change? It is a great dilemma; Narcissism lowers in people as their age increases. In addition to that, research suggests that a narcissist can develop the ability to show empathy while seeing things from others’ perspectives. Talk therapy can suggest some ways to lower the traits of narcissism in people if they intend to reach out for help.
However, often narcissists’ grandiosity of self-pride does not agree with changing, as they are proud of being themselves. So, unless healers accept that narcissists cannot be changed in lack of personal growth and therapy, the abusive narcissistic relationships will continue long-lasting.
2. Relationship Keepers
Some people are desperate to save a relationship from falling apart. They believe in an eternal relationship with a partner, regardless of his/her personality. Such people are the ones who value relationships more than mental health. They do not want to lose a relationship, as they waited for a long time to get one.
So, they choose to endure emotional pain, abuse, devalue and trauma bonding to get hold of the narcissistic relationship. And that explains the long-lasting relationship with narcissists.
3. Reputable
Certain people do know about their partner’s disability to have a good personality. They also might know that their partner is a narcissist but cannot take action on it by going no-contact or applying for a divorce for the sake of their reputation. Such reputable people value society’s gossip and prestige more than their personal life and decide not to sever the bond with a narcissistic partner.
Often these people have emotional instability due to the continual exposure to drama and gaslighting. To maintain their reputation, they cannot even expose or share the abusive relationship they are enduring for a long.
4. Insecure ones
When people are insecure about themselves, they settle with anyone who just accepts them. Insecure people typically think others are better than them in every aspect. So, when they fall into a narcissistic love, they visualize the narcissistic partner in a higher place.
Insecure ones do think that the narcissistic partner deserves more than them and choose to stay by their side (or it may be the effects of the manipulation of a narcissist). This gives the narcissist partner full authority and control over them. So, insecure people suffer the most in narcissistic relationships. Unless having adequate self-worth and overcoming the insecurities, undoing the narcissistic relationship is not possible.
Have you ever experienced narcissistic abuse or currently experiencing one? Are you struggling to vent about that to anyone? Remember that venting to somebody who listens to you is the first step to healing. So, register here and vent to a listener who understands you.
5. Betas
A person with a beta personality is inclusively nice, kind, and respectful. A beta person is mostly monogamous, loyal, and caring in a relationship, especially a beta man who cares more for a woman. One with such a personality wants to be the first one to help others, as they wish to be a dependable person.
A person with beta behavior becomes easy prey for the narcissist to control and play with their emotions. As they found less guarded with everyone, they are more vulnerable to gaslighting, love-bombing and manipulation. With that said, a beta person will be less likely to find the intentions of the narcissist leads to having a prolonged narcissistic relationship.
6. Dark Triad Personalities
Narcissists seek kind and attention-giving personalities to get a quality source of supply, i.e., validation. Sometimes, they fall into another narcissistic partner without knowing about them in the early stages. That sounds great, right? A world where narcissists have a relationship with other narcissists and others are safe from emotional trauma. Well, it doesn’t work that way.
Studies show that a narcissist can have a prolonged relationship with other narcissists as well as other dark triad personalities like Machiavellianism and Psychopathy. However, the long-lasting relationship between two narcissistic partners has two major possibilities.
As for the first, if anyone’s dark triad personality dominates the other narcissistic partner, the relationship will last longer. For instance, a malevolent narcissist’s relationship with a covert narcissist is more likely to lengthen.
Secondly, if the narcissistic partners in the relationship acknowledge both and agree with not abusing each other. Instead, they both seek external sources mutually and stay in a relationship. Although this relationship holds no love and connection, they mutually sync to hurt others, which happens rarely.
Give a Read: 4 Types of Narcissism and its pattern of abuse
To Finalize
The probability of these types of people getting trapped in a narcissistic relationship is high. Although some can wake up from the narcissistic mirage by developing self-worth and self-love, most people of these criteria have less chance to escape. It certainly looks like nice and kind persons are what narcissists are targeting as a source of supply.
However, one cannot save someone from a narcissistic relationship unless one acknowledges the abuse and seek change. Developing a solid boundary and knowledge about narcissism can only save someone from a narcissistic relationship
FAQs
Q1. How will a narcissistic relationship be?
A1. The one with a narcissistic personality sees attention, appraisals, controls, or other extrinsic assets as worthy. With that said, narcissists do not value their partner’s emotions, love expectations, and needs. So, it requires an immense sacrifice to have a long-lasting relationship with the narcissist.
Q2. Who can make a narcissistic relationship work?
A1. The only people who can bear the constant discarding, abuse, gaslighting, and manipulation of the narcissist and expect nothing in return can be in a narcissistic relationship. So, narcissists can go picky and select people who are empathetic, kind, monogamous, and emotionally weak as a partner. Although it might differ, these are the people who can sustain a narcissistic relationship longer.
Q3. What type of partner do narcissists like?
A1.
- Healers
- Relationship Keepers
- Reputable
- Insecure ones
- Betas
- Dark triad personalities
are the people who are capable of bargaining their life to live in a narcissistic relationship.
Q4. Do narcissists get along well with other narcissists?
A1. Studies show that a narcissist can have a prolonged relationship with other narcissists as well as other dark triad personalities like Machiavellianism and Psychopathy. However, the long-lasting relationship between two narcissistic partners has two major possibilities.
