That's just exactly it. Narcissism is a self defense mechanism. When their trauma happened, their subconscious created a false persona for the conscious child to believe they are ; kind of shielding them from their trauma.

The do think they are normal, but at the same time they :

• are aware they are pathological liars and manipulators

• believe everyone else thinks like them

• believe all of their actions are justified as they find a way to blame someone or something else for their behaviour

  "You made me... I had to... You gave me no choice" All of these are used to self defend their actions and blame the other person. They are fully aware they are doing this on purpose.

A narcissist gets their self narrative fulfilled by you believing their lies or gaslighting. Or someone who only knows them believing the stories ( lies ) the narcissist tells them about you. If you believe them, in the narcissist mind, it makes it true. They are also aware they are doing this on purpose.

They live in a world where they have to constantly gaslight themselves into believing their own narrative of themselves because reality is constantly telling them it's not true. A real definition of mental hell.

Everything a narcissist does / thinks / reacts is directly tied to so they never feel the same way again that they felt when their trauma happened. The avoidance of feeling shame is the driving force behind narcissism. Cowardice, however, is the driving behaviour. They're running from themselves, so naturally, they run from everything else ; responsibility, accountability, self integrity and self respect.

" If I can hurt them before they hurt me.. " is a pretty fair way to describe their overall view of others.

That's just exactly it. Narcissism is a self defense mechanism. When their trauma happened, their subconscious created a false persona for the conscious child to believe they are ; kind of shielding them from their trauma.

The do think they are normal, but at the same time they :

• are aware they are pathological liars and manipulators

• believe everyone else thinks like them

• believe all of their actions are justified as they find a way to blame someone or something else for their behaviour

  "You made me... I had to... You gave me no choice" All of these are used to self defend their actions and blame the other person. They are fully aware they are doing this on purpose.

A narcissist gets their self narrative fulfilled by you believing their lies or gaslighting. Or someone who only knows them believing the stories ( lies ) the narcissist tells them about you. If you believe them, in the narcissist mind, it makes it true. They are also aware they are doing this on purpose.

They live in a world where they have to constantly gaslight themselves into believing their own narrative of themselves because reality is constantly telling them it's not true. A real definition of mental hell.