For survivors of narcissistic abuse, identifying and escaping the abuse is only a first step. What comes next is even less clear, and these are the reasons I believe recovering from narcissistic abuse is so difficult.
- It’s not easy to accept that you’ve been in a relationship with a terrible person. It doesn’t feel good.
- It’s not easy to admit that your relationship was fake from the very beginning. That’s difficult to wrap your brain around. You can be chasing your tail for a while on this one.
- The more you think about the relationship, the more lies that get uncovered. Re-traumatizing!
- It’s not easy to deal with family/friend relationships that were hurt or strained because of the abuse.
- Accepting that some people will remain fooled by your abuser forever hurts. You want everyone to know and it doesn’t feel fair.
- Dealing with the damaged you. Your identity has been eroded. They hit you right in your core so getting up again to face the world is not an easy task for sure.
- Smear campaigns! There’s nothing you can do about them, and even though you want to fight back, you know it will only make things worse. Letting sleeping dogs lie is not easy.
