Number 4: Psychosis and paranoia.
This is on the extreme end of the spectrum when the abuse is unbearable and unimaginable. It totally alters how your brain functions, and sometimes you see things as a consequence of being exposed to absolute terror. You hear things; you feel things. Now, there’s a thin line between actually seeing things that happened and seeing things that are not there. I don’t want to gaslight you; you experienced what you experienced. You didn’t make it up. Hearing things—by that, I mean you have left the narcissist and you hear his or her voice in the environment, knowing they’re not there. Or you see them; you feel like they were there, but they’re not. That is psychosis, and with that comes paranoia. There’s always paranoia if there is psychosis in a narcissistic survivor—the extreme fear of being targeted, attacked, or taken advantage of by other people, which is the reason why it becomes impossible for a survivor to trust again.
How do you heal psychosis induced by narcissistic abuse? Well, you need therapy. Self-work is good; trauma work is good, but you need more help. Maybe you need medications as well, especially if those hallucinations are strong—if you can actually feel them, see things, and experience things that are not around. Now, as I pointed out, there is a thin line. What I was referring to is the demonic nature of a narcissist. I don’t want to call you crazy, because you’re not. If you are living with the narcissist and you see their face contorting, their eyes looking really wild, black, and it feels like there’s no one home, that is not psychosis. You’re having a true visceral experience; their nature is being revealed to you. So don’t doubt that as psychosis. Don’t mix the two. Psychosis is something different; it’s post-separation mostly, and it doesn’t go away. It’s a vivid flashback that you keep having, and you can experience it all the time. If medication helps, then definitely it is psychosis.
Recommended: Healing from Hidden Abuse: A Journey Through the Stages of Recovery from Psychological Abuse.
Now, what do you do with paranoia? Paranoia is a normal response. See, you have to validate it first. Who wouldn’t feel fear of trusting other people when the person they trusted the most betrayed them in the worst way imaginable? So validating it is the first key. The second thing you have to do is work on your betrayal wound, betrayal trauma, and start trusting yourself so that you can trust others fully.
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