The Struggles of Adult Children of Narcissistic Parents

Many people don’t realize that they are adult children of narcissistic parents.  They don’t know what is wrong with their lives.  They don’t realize that they have continued to fill their lives with other narcissists, and this is why, no matter how hard they try, their relationships aren’t working.  It’s because they haven’t known what they’re dealing with. 

Adult children of narcissistic parents often don’t think there was much of anything wrong with their childhoods.  That is because in these families, things sometimes seemed rather normal.  But…upon closer examination, there were certain “rules”.   What they don’t realize is that they were forced to grow up with the belief that their parents were always right and apologized for nothing.  There was no understanding that children go through developmental stages and need help to grow into healthy adults; therefore, they aren’t taught how to do things and then their parents are shocked when their child makes a mistake.  They then express their shock and dismay. They can’t begin to understand how or why their child or teen could have blown it like he did.   The child wonders, “How could I have not known that?” and vows to never be found inadequate again. Therefore, these children often struggle with perfectionism.

Furthermore, they cannot tolerate their child’s emotional need of them and view their child’s longings for attachment as excessively needy and, therefore, these children have had their feelings labeled as excessive and dramatic.

Read more about the dynamics of growing up with narcissistic parents in the new book, You Might Be a Narcissist If… How to Identify Narcissism in Ourselves and Others and What We Can Do About It.   Chapter Two is titled, “Growing Up in a Narcissistic Family” and has several real life examples of adult children of narcissistic parents.

The origins of narcissism are explained in Chapter 3:  The Creation of Narcissism… You might be shocked about what actually creates narcissistic injuries and traits.  Chapter 4 is:  The Struggles of the Adult Child of a Narcissistic Family.  

Chapters 5and 6 clearly spell out helpful hints you can use to more effectively deal with narcissism in your spouse, your parents or in-laws,  your friends, other family members, co-workers, your boss, fellow committee members, or even your own adult children.

This book was written by two psychotherapists and a psychiatrist with decades of both personal and professional experience dealing with narcissism.

Want to know more about children of narcissistic parents? Get your copy of You Might Be a Narcissist If:  How to Identify Narcissism in Ourselves and Others and What We Can Do About It today!