40 Quotes About Dating A Narcissist That Will Help Heal Your Trauma

“Healing from psychopathic abuse is a long journey. It is neither linear nor logical. You can expect to swing back and forth between stages, perhaps even inventing a few of your own along the way. It is unlike the traditional stages of grief, because you have not truly lost anything—instead, you have…”

— Jackson MacKenzie, amazon.com

“I must get my soul back from you; I am killing my flesh without it.’”

— Sylvia Plath, amazon.com

“Victims living in a household where there is narcissistic abuse are living in a torturous war zone, where all forms of power and control are used against them (intimidation; emotional, physical and mental abuse; isolation, economic abuse, sexual abuse, coercion etc.). The threat of abuse is always p…”

— Christine Louis de Canonville, narcissisticbehavior.net

“I desire the things that will destroy me in the end.”

— Sylvia Plath, amazon.com

“Your path may be painful, but it is also special. The universe has different plans for you. Remember, there are others who have permanently destroyed any path to the spiritual world. Psychopaths have no place there, and it is why they hate empathetic beings. You are a nagging reminder of something t…”

— Jackson MacKenzie, amazon.com

“It is a myth that abusers simply can’t ‘help it.’ Narcissists could easily take the same energy they use in controlling their public image or manufacturing chaos in their relationships and apply it to controlling their behavior in private, behind closed doors. They choose when and where it is "safe"…”

— Shahida Arabi, thoughtcatalog.com

“While we as empathic beings want to feel compassion for those in pain, that does not change the reality that forgiving an abuser to the extent of remaining with them, excusing the abuse, minimizing and denying it only perpetuates the abuse cycle and leads to further, sometimes even lethal, harm to t…”

— Shahida Arabi, thoughtcatalog.com

“The truth is, a victim of abuse rarely consciously ‘chooses’ to be in an abusive relationship – often, they ‘choose’ a partner who treats them very well in the beginning – the false mask that the abuser portrays. When the victim is sufficiently hooked into the relationship and invested, that is when…”

— Shahida Arabi, amazon.com

“The scars from mental cruelty can be as deep and long-lasting as wounds from punches or slaps but are often not as obvious. In fact, even among women who have experienced violence from a partner, half or more report that the man’s emotional abuse is what is causing them the greatest harm.”

— Lundy Bancroft, amazon.com

“In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure no one listens.”

— Judith Lewis Herman, Dr. Judith Lewis Herman M.D., amazon.com

“In part, trauma repetition is an effort by the victim to bring resolution to the traumatic memory. By repeating the experience, the victim tries anew to figure out a way to respond in order to eliminate the fear. Instead, the victim simply deepens the traumatic wound. Note that repetition, like sham…”

— Patrick Carnes, Patrick Carnes Ph.D., amazon.com

“While the feeling of being unloved may be true at this moment, being unloved is a lie. This is a damaging falsehood that makes children of domestic violence believe they are unworthy of tenderness or care. Of course, all children are loveable and deserve to feel that way. When they don’t, it’s confu…”

— Brian F. Martin, Tony Robbins Brian F. Martin, amazon.com

“You may be one of those individuals who find it hard to accept the notion that there really are people as cunning, devious, and ruthless as your gut tells you the manipulator in your life is. That is, you may even be prone to engage in ‘neurotic’ denial. If you are, even when you’re confronted with…”

— George K. Simon, George K. Simon Ph.D., amazon.com

“Remember that time you gave me a black heart instead of black eyes Warped words instead of scraped knees Yet it still hurt, just the same? Remember that time you used your silence to bruise my broken soul, which could’ve just as easily been broken bones Because sometimes contempt hurts even more dee…”

— Shahida Arabi, selfcarehaven.wordpress.com

“when you are broken and he has left you do not question whether you were enough the problem was you were so enough he was not able to carry it.”

— Rupi Kaur, amazon.com

“It appears to me that children are wired to release fear through angering and crying. The newborn baby, mourning the death of living safely and fully contained inside the mother, utters the first of many angry cries not only to call for nurturance and attention, but also to release her fear. In the…”

— Pete Walker, pete-walker.com

“YOUR ABUSIVE PARTNER DOESN’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HIS ANGER; HE HAS A PROBLEM WITH YOUR ANGER. One of the basic human rights he takes away from you is the right to be angry with him. No matter how badly he treats you, he believes that your voice shouldn’t rise and your blood shouldn’t boil. The privi…”

— Lundy Bancroft, amazon.com

“But the woman came to her then. The woman with hair of red like roses, hair of white like snowfall. She was young and old. She was blind and could see everything. She spoke softly, in whispers, but her voice carried across the mountain ranges like sleeping giants, the cities lit like fairies and the…”

— Francesca Lia Block, amazon.com

“You’re tone-deaf to verbal abuse. Many unloved daughters experienced put-downs, disparagement, and verbal aggression in their childhoods and all too often, they have either internalized these messages as true or have somehow come to think of them as ‘normal.’ This is especially true if the daughter…”

— Peg Streep, blogs.psychcentral.com

“We can own our agency in exploring our relationship patterns without resorting to victim-blaming. Healing from narcissistic abuse or a lifetime of trauma requires that we unravel both types of wounds layered upon each other – past and present.”

— Shahida Arabi, amazon.com

“Empaths are not your punching bags. Trauma isn’t a justification to mistreat others. There is no excuse to abuse someone else. While I love to help others, as an empath, I am not responsible for fixing your life or catering to your toxicity. I am not responsible for managing your triggers, walking o…”

— Shahida Arabi, amazon.com

“Spend even ten minutes arguing with a toxic narcissist and you’ll find yourself wondering how the argument even began at all. You simply disagreed with them about their absurd claim that the sky is red and now your entire childhood, family, friends, career and lifestyle choices have come under attac…”

— Shahida Arabi, thoughtcatalog.com

“Leave the man who breaks your wings And uses them as crutches Just so he can learn to fly.’”

— Shahida Arabi, gumroad.com

“I became accustomed to the cruelty and the raging storms The silent glare followed by the teasing eyes The sweet nothings and the callous words Bruising the soul and battering the mind.”

— Shahida Arabi, gumroad.com

“Dr. Helen Fisher discovered that the ‘frustration-attraction’ experience of obstacles in a romantic relationship actually elevates feelings of love rather than eradicating them. In fact, she noted that the brain is activated in a similar way when we are in adversity-ridden relationships as they are…”

— Shahida Arabi, thoughtcatalog.com

“Plant seeds of happiness, hope, success, and love; it will all come back to you in abundance. This is the law of nature.”

— Steve Maraboli, amazon.com

“God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade: Exit seraphim and Satan's men: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. I fancied you'd return the way you said, But I grow old and I forget your name. (I think I made you up inside my head.) I should have loved a thunderbird instead; At least when sp…”

— Sylvia Plath, neuroticpoets.com

“My past has not defined me, destroyed me, deterred me, or defeated me; it has only strengthened me.”

— Steve Maraboli, Dr. Steve Maraboli, amazon.com

“Covert narcissists blind you with their saccharine sweetness: they present the perfect public image, routinely go on their knees to pray, say their mantras on their yoga mats, preach ‘peace and compassion,’ all the while plotting on how to best stab you in the back. In some ways, covert narcissists…”

— Shahida Arabi, thoughtcatalog.com