How Narcissists Function – an Analysis: A Phenomenological Analysis Based on Case Studies

Power structures are narcissists’ “natural place”. But they are destructive, because such people invert their insecurity into dominance, unfairness, brutality and disregard for others. The same applies to narcissists who dominate others by celebrating their weakness; who do not accept that they are the “aggressor”, the perpetrator. These two forms of narcissism are distilled from case studies coming from accompanying especially traumatized persons. The cases were analysed in an eidetical-phenomenological way: the essence of narcissism is crystallised from these long-term-evaluations of actual cases. Narcissists seem to celebrate their strength, but their innermost self is weak. Self-confidence, self-reflection, self-regulation and self-distance are lacking. Narcissists live in concentric circles: (1) in the circle of loyalty, (2) in the circle who admire or bemoan the narcissists. If they are not acknowledged, they end up (3) in the circle of destruction. There everything bothering adding to the narcissist’s insecurity is eliminated. Narcissists function according to several principles and use the principles of the power game. But as they need the security a pseudo-reality gives them, they destroy averse any opposing reality. Their victims therefore live in a constant nightmare – until the narcissists fail. Some hints are given how to survive narcissists without being destroyed.