Narcissists have an exaggerated sense of self-importance and lack empathy.
People who have Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) tend to be deceitful, abusive, and manipulative. In addition to this, their lack of empathy makes them feel no regret or guilt when they hurt the ones around them. What is worse, due to their inflated sense of self-importance, they believe that they are special and that they deserve to be treated as such. As a result of their large egos, they exude confidence and thereby trick people into thinking that they are charismatic and charming.
A narcissist will never take responsibility for their actions.
Unsurprisingly, somebody who believes that they are perfect will never admit that they make mistakes. Narcissists run away from the consequences of their actions and often manage to blame others for their own errors. They do so by lying and using manipulation tactics that leave their victims doubting themselves and their memory. Some of these tactics include gaslighting, scapegoating, and playing the victim. In other words, a narcissist will never take the blame for something they did or said; instead, they will make the victim look as though they are the ones who are at fault.
By playing the victim, a narcissist can make the person they hurt seem like the one who is abusive.
After long exposure to a narcissist’s abuse or manipulation, one’s mental and emotional wellbeing might deteriorate severely. A narcissist will tear you down to make themselves feel superior and they will isolate you from your friends and family. They will constantly criticize you, abuse you, and manipulate you until you question everything that you know. Eventually, you may begin to feel unstable as you struggle to understand how you ended up where you are. In turn, you might begin to cry incessantly or strongly argue with your abuser. However, this will only drive you deeper into a world of desperation and helplessness as the narcissist will use this against you.
They will tell everybody that you are unstable, that you overreact and that you abuse them.
Using deceit and playing the victim, the charismatic narcissist will make people believe that they are the ones who are being mistreated. They will achieve this by explaining how you behave, how you shout, how you cry, and how you constantly overreact. More importantly, they will achieve this by purposely leaving out the things they have said or done to elicit these extreme reactions. Therefore, people will believe that you are emotionally or mentally unstable and that you are the abusive one when in reality, their actions have warranted your reactions.