How Narcissists Treat Their Exes - 6 Shocking Things They Do (2024)

Contents:
  • 6 Examples of how narcissists treat their exes
  • Is my ex a narcissist?
  • Do they miss their exes?
  • What a narcissist does at the end of a relationship
  • Editor’s opinion - Talk about your troubles

Now, a narcissist will certainly never win boyfriend or husband of the year, butwhen their feelings are hurt and their partner has ended things, they crank up the intensity level of their evilness.Their immaturity and need for revenge mean they are incapable of respecting the decision to end things, and will begin to treat their past lovers in an even more demonic way.

Narcissists treat their exes horribly - Here are 6 examples of what they do to their exes post breakup

1) They dip in and out of their lives

Narcissists are anything but predictable, and they love to keep their exes on their toes by regularly ghosting them and popping back up in their lives. At certain points,they’ll bombard their ex-partners with messages telling them how much they miss them, whereas, at others, they’ll give them the silent treatment for weeks on end.The instability they inflict on their partner means they remain in control and are constantly in the driver’s seat by picking and choosing when to communicate.

>>> Discoverthe reasons ghosters always come back

2) They’ll try to become friends with them

They’ll no doubt claim that they don’t want any drama, and will insist they want to be amicable about things moving forward. By reinforcing the idea that they want to stay friends, they are actively leaving the door open to getting back together whenever please. The truth is, their sense of superiority means they believe that they can restart relationships whenever,regardless of what has happened.

3) They’ll flirt with them

Flirting involves toying with people’s emotions and exciting their curiosity, and it’s a field that self-obsessed narcissists excel in. They love feeling sexy and wanted because it boosts their ego and sense of self-importance. Plus, by flirting with their ex, they’ll reinforce their puppet master roleand therefore believe they are the architects of their future.

4) They’ll spread lies about their exes

By moving on to the darker side of a narcissist’s personality, we soon realize that they are extremely bitter exes and will always attempt to seek revenge. Now, they are never even slightly concerned about hurting people’s feelings or remorseful about their actions, no, they are more worried about saving face. Indeed,preserving their reputation is so important to them that they become even more obsessed with their egoand will make up lies in order to do so. Plus, nothing is out of bounds for them, that do anything they deem useful to get back at their exes.

5) They’ll play mind games

Narcissists are well known for playing mind games because they help to reinforce their hold over their current or past victims. They’ll resort to love bombing, self-esteem reduction, and emotional manipulation to keep their ex under the thumb. The truth is, these games send subliminal messages to the victims that they’ll never truly break free and get their lives back. Here, we are dealing with emotional torturers who will stop at nothing to crush people that they believe have betrayed them.

6) They’ll blackmail them

Whether they have compromising text messages or photos of their exes,they’ll use whatever material they have against them, and of course they’ll take pleasure in seeing them squirm.They get their sick kicks from making threats and will use whatever they have to get their past lovers to do exactly what they want, which means breaking the cycle of abuse can be excessively tough.

Is my ex a narcissist? - 6 Signs he is

Love is definitely a blinding emotion and can be very confusing for our emotions. When we are with someone, it can be hard to see their flaws and even tougher to pick up on their bad behavior, especially where manipulation and gaslighting are concerned. Plus, narcissists don’t exactly parade around with a badge on declaring their personality disorder. If you are recently fresh out of a relationship and have doubts about your ex flame, here are the signs that your ex is a narcissist.

1) He was the one who decided when we saw each other.

When you made offers, he declined. Often he’d say he had a lot of work on, but preferred to take care of things from A-Z anyway.

2) When you spoke to him about how you felt, he cut the conversation short.

He said some pretty hurtful phrases: if I like you, it's not for your intelligence, or you're stupid, you're fat, and even, you have a big nose. Always on the tone of the fun so that it went down better.

3) He never introduced you to his family or his friends.

You now wonder whether they evenknow you existed.

4) He talked about the future, but never included you in his plans.

You were always an afterthought in everything.

5) His words and actions that don't add up.

For example, he told you that we were in a relationship butnever acted as if you were.

6) His past was a mystery

He never really spoke about his life, his past relationships. You hardly knew what he did with his days or even those long evenings when you were without news.

Do narcissists miss their exes?

This certainly isn’t an easy question to answer because absolutely nothing is straightforward with these bullies. Whilst on paper, narcissists are incapable of loving anyone other than themselves, they struggle with the idea of change, so when someone they previously relied on suddenly disappears, they can feel sad, although they won’t admit it. These slippery snakes need a steady network of people around them to be able to feed into their grandiose ideas and theories. Now, they won’t miss their exes romantically, but they will miss being able to manipulate and toy with them.

What a narcissist does at the end of a relationship

At the end of a relationship,the narcissist is likely to descend into free fall and seek revenge in any way possible. The act of revenge in itself aims at breaking your self-esteem, and even your ego/you feel betrayed, and you do not know how to react to this reality. In short, your former abuser is essentially waiting to trigger a reaction from you, whether it is good or bad. After an unwanted breakup, the narcissist will do everything to push you to your limits, in order to make you lash out, and therefore look like the bad guy. That’s why your first action after a breakup should be to block him purely and simply and to work on yourself to move on and not think about him anymore. Don't try to keep in touch with him because you won't be able to stop his hold as long as you will be in contact with him.

Editor’s opinion - Talk about your troubles

If you are still being emotionally toyed with by a bitter ex, then seeking support in the form of friends, a group, or even law enforcement is one of the best ways to ensure your safety. Opening up may be difficult, but it’s an essential step towards safeguarding your mental health.

🤗 Understand yourself, accept yourself, be happy… Let’s do it here and now!

#BornToBeMe

Be sure to read these articles too;

  • Examples of text messages a narcissist sends
  • What will a narcissist say to get you back?
How Narcissists Treat Their Exes - 6 Shocking Things They Do (2024)

FAQs

How Narcissists Treat Their Exes - 6 Shocking Things They Do? ›

As a general rule, narcissists will say negative things about their exes when they want to invalidate, devalue, degrade, and minimize them and positive things when they want to use their exes to maintain a positive public persona or manipulate their current partner into feeling jealous, insecure, competitive, etc.

What do narcissists say about their exes? ›

As a general rule, narcissists will say negative things about their exes when they want to invalidate, devalue, degrade, and minimize them and positive things when they want to use their exes to maintain a positive public persona or manipulate their current partner into feeling jealous, insecure, competitive, etc.

How a narcissist destroys a person from the inside out? ›

Grooming a person, manipulating her into doubting her feelings, generating shame regarding her best qualities, and manipulatively creating dependency are four ways a narcissist destroys a person from the inside out.

How do you really hurt an ex narcissist? ›

The most effective weapon to fend off narcissists is self-love. When you love yourself, it is more difficult for the narcissist to manipulate you and get under your skin. It will hurt them to know that you do not need them, that you are better off without them, and that you love yourself exactly as you are.

What annoys a narcissist ex? ›

Narcissists love attention, validation, and power. So what drives a narcissist crazy? Simply put, anything that jeopardizes their basic needs for superiority can quickly irritate them. If you want to know how to infuriate a narcissist, you can look no further than giving them nothing.

What narcissists say after a breakup? ›

They may say "you'll be lost without me," or "you'll never find someone like me." Don't listen, Orloff advises. It's just a trick to get you to come back to them out of fear.

What words hurt a narcissist the most? ›

8 Things You Should Never Say to a Narcissist
  1. Don't say, "It's not about you." ...
  2. Don't say, "You're not listening." ...
  3. Don't say, "Ina Garten did not get her lasagna recipe from you." ...
  4. Don't say, "Do you think it might be your fault?" ...
  5. Don't say, "You're being a bully." ...
  6. Don't say, "Stop playing the victim."
Dec 15, 2017

What words do narcissists hate to hear? ›

There are many words people high in narcissism don't want to hear, but perhaps the worst involve a “no,” as in “No, you can't," "No, you're wrong," or — even worse — “No, I won't.” This makes it difficult to go about your ordinary business with the people in your life who don't understand the give-and-take of normal ...

What phrases would a narcissist use? ›

"You're a bad person." "Nobody else will ever love you." "I'm the best you'll ever have." "Have fun being alone for the rest of your life."

How narcissists treat their exes? ›

By remaining friends with their exes, narcissists get to keep all of their former partners on a carousel of convenience: they can create a harem of people to use for sex, money, praise, attention or whatever else they desire, at any time.

How does a narcissist behave from an ex? ›

A narcissistic ex will show no empathy for you or the people around them. They cannot relate to your pain or see the role they played in your breakup. Their only goal is to feed their ego, and they will go to any lengths to achieve these goals. This lack of empathy can be masked by a charming personality.

Do narcissists forget their exes quickly? ›

Narcissists get over their exes very quickly. In a survey we conducted among 300 people who experienced narcissistic abuse in a romantic relationship, we discovered that the average amount of time it took for a narcissist to get over their ex was three-and-a-half weeks.

Do narcissists check up on exes? ›

They Keep Tabs on Their Exes. The phrase “keep tabs” means to carefully watch (someone or something) in order to learn what that person or thing is doing. It is common for a narcissist to keep their exes around so they can keep tabs on them.

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