1. Deeply committed to being critical.
Now, as we look at their tactics, them trying to break you, the first thing that we’re going to say is that narcissists are deeply committed to being critical. Now, they won’t call it that. Their criticism is constant. That goes along with their need for high control, and so they can go into the micromanaging kind of thing. They’ll give you advice that you never ask for, you probably don’t need, and then taking it a little bit further, we’re also going to say that they operate with a mind that I call “correctness over love,” as opposed to “love over correctness.” In other words, being right, as far as they’re concerned, is the ultimate good when, in fact, being righteous means that they’re superior in their mind, and there’s no love in the way that they engage with you.
2. Picking away at your reasoning.
Another tactic that they’ll use is they’ll pick away at your reasoning. How many times have you thought, “Well, I’m trying to say what is on my mind,” but they can ask demeaning questions and say, “Why in the world would anybody think the way that you do?”
Recommended: Healing from Hidden Abuse: A Journey Through the Stages of Recovery from Psychological Abuse.
3. Gestures of ridicule.
Another is they’ll use words and gestures and non-verbal communication of ridicule. You know, the rolling of the eyes and the huff and all like that, that’s one of their ways of saying you don’t mean anything. I want to break you. I don’t want you to think that way.
Related: 10 Gaslighting Phrases Narcissists Use to Control You.
In addition, they’ll have lots of pressure on you to conform. You have to think like me, and when you prove that you don’t, then they’re just going to keep pressuring you to drop your distinctive and just come along with theirs and just declare, “Well, you’re the great master. I have to bow to every word you say.” That’s what they want you to think, that is the case.
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