Narcissistic mothers lack emotional support for their children, often leading to child abuse and long-lasting impacts on their children’s mental health. They see their children as extensions of themselves and value them only for their usefulness. Treatment for narcissism is challenging and often focused on the adult children.
Signs of narcissistic mothers typically include behaviors such as excessive self-concern and a lack of ability to give their children the emotional support they need to grow into well-adjusted adults. This type of personality disorder can also be an underlying cause of child abuse in some cases. The average narcissistic mom is nearly impossible to please, no matter the circumstances, and can often reject or despise her children’s attempts at affection or emotional connection. Narcissistic mothers usually create lasting impacts on their children which can create various problems for them as adults. Children of people with narcissism often have difficulty establishing healthy relationships, as well as increased rates of depression or anxiety.
One of the characteristic symptoms of narcissism is that the sufferer generally cannot perceive other people as individuals with their own needs. Narcissistic mothers usually see their children as extended parts of themselves, rather than separate human beings. They normally only value their children on a limited basis, as long as the children can be of use to their narcissistic parent in some specific way. A mother with this condition may require her children to excel in sports or receive high grades in school simply to make her seem like an excellent parent to strangers, such as friends or relatives. Whether the children learn or grow from this great achievement is coincidental and largely irrelevant to her compared to this boost to her reputation.
Other characteristics of narcissistic mothers are habitual lies and derogatory comments that are uttered under the guise of being a caring parent. Many of them have a variety of ways of communicating to their children that they hold them in less esteem than other people. These can be non-verbal as well as verbal. People with narcissism often humiliate or refuse to listen to the opinions or ideas of others, including their own children. A good number of narcissistic mothers behave condescendingly towards their adult children and refuse to truly acknowledge that their adult children are no longer young enough to be easily manipulated.
The narcissism treatment process can generally only be challenging and effective when the narcissistic mother realizes her destructive ways and wants to change them. Some mental health professionals say that a diagnosed narcissist is nearly impossible to treat successfully, and that in some cases, treatment can actually make the initial behavior worse. Much of the psychological help regarding narcissistic mothers is usually focused on their adult children.
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