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Signs Your “Friend” Might Be a Covert Narcissist/Sociopath
They seem so wonderful… for a while. They seem almost too good to be true… until they’re giving off creepy vibes and are scathingly contemptuous toward you.
You say something about yourself, and they say they’re the same way… all the time… until they stop doing that and start gradually criticizing every little thing about you.
They agree with everything you say… until after a while (months, years) they disagree with everything you say. Eventually they contradict everything you say, even when it’s clearly a fact. You might reach a point at which you’d rather have awkward silence with them than broach any topic, because you know if you broach any topic, they will shoot you down, contradict you. Maybe they’ll snap at you or deliver a cold, withering, patronizing lecture.
They shower you with flattery… for a while. They’ll gradually start criticizing you. They shift from showering you with flattery to showering you with judgments and hypercriticism. If you call them out on this, they deny it and maybe accuse you of being hypercritical of them (projecting their traits onto you).
The shift can be quite gradual, especially if you’re associating with an intelligent master of manipulation. After a long stretch of time, perhaps years, they’ve changed from seeming to be kind and…