Keeping Your Sanity in a Relationship with a Narcissistic Person

Living with someone who is narcissistic is challenging but there are ways to make the experience more tolerable. True narcissistic personalities can be charming and attractive, but highly controlling, aggressive and inconsiderate without regard to the feelings of others. Whether the offender is a parent, spouse or friend, remember that first and foremost, that it is not your fault the person is this way. Your job is to preserve your self esteem and be assertive whenever challenged by the fragile ego of this person. Here are thoughts to ponder, to help you maintain a relationship with the person you care about, without losing yourself and your voice in the process. Having spent many, many years living with a highly controlling narcissistic family member, it took lots of therapy and soul searching to fully understand this, so here is my therapy in a nutshell.