These Books Have Supported Me in Healing From Narcissistic Abuse
From narcissistic bosses, to friends, to family members and romantic partners, I’ve dealt with them all.
Narcissism
I learned about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) in my master’s in counseling program. We studied the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) as part of our course study. I had to learn what NPD was, and all of the diagnostic characteristics. At the time, I was recently out of a divorce, and I had some other toxic relationships in my past. Some of the characteristics reminded me of past relationships, but not all of them. Like, maybe the person was grandiose, but didn’t take advantage of others (Looking back, they took advantage of me, but I couldn’t see that at the time.) I’m not qualified to diagnose NPD, only a licensed professional can do that. I stopped short of licensing, and earned a master’s in education for school counseling, however, I have since educated myself a lot. Between reading books, listening to licensed therapists on YouTube and podcasts, along with my personal experience in toxic relationships, I am quite knowledgeable, more than the average person.
