Ghostwriter
Recently one our close friends was diagnosed by her professional as a narcissist. As part of her counselling she was asked to have a group session with us to learn at little more. That is where the video that was posted on narcissism came from. We are trying to learn how to best communicate and support our friend. According to the counselor, trying to help is often unhelpful.
He gave us all a card that says “There is no cure, but therapy can help. The goal is to build up the person’s poor self-esteem and have more realistic expectations of others.” It seems like the opposite reaction that most of us would have.
“Overall, narcissism is problematic for both individuals and society. Those who think they are already great don’t try to improve themselves,” says Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and a professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University.
So we are suppose to build the self esteem of someone who believe they are great. That is tricky. We do love our friend and we are willing to try. It may be a very interesting journey. I tend to ask a lot of questions. Making assumptions often leads to miscommunication and hurt feelings. The easy way out it to be callous and walk away. Sometimes that is best for everyone.
We will all work with professional and see what, if anything, we can do to keep a healthy relationship with our friend.
Now you know the story behind the video.
Counceling can help but in my country it is very expensive to go to a psychotherpist so I can’t really afford it. Anyway, when I go to one, I always end up crying all the time so it is too painful. I think I will skip it.
Great interesting information to ponder upon. may be helped but some are harder to help than others.
I don’t know if we can help her, but at least we won’t harm her.