Narcissism: rigid envelope, flexible content. But aren’t we all? Our personalities are “rigid” (consistent across situations, circumstances, and environments) which renders us recognizable.
The dissociative narcissists feel incomplete or even nonexistent without access to their past, its physical presence in their lives, no matter how onerous and obscene it had been.
The past defines their identity, they are the stuff that memories are made of, memories that are disjointed, hazy, and suspect. So, they are forced to inhabit a present that challenges their grandiosity.
The solution: a fantasy that bridges the memory gaps and affords self-enhancing False Self-congruent narrative continuity. Narcissistic supply is the glue that holds the compensatory fantasy together.
But there is a cycle of narcissistic supply.
The narcissist’s inner dialog:
I am no longer able to secure narcissistic supply, having failed in everything I have ever attempted (narcissistic injury or mortification).
I don’t need anyone because I am far superior to everyone. The self-supplying narcissist is grandiosely self-sufficient and defiant. He resembles a psychopath.
My ability to self-supply is compromised because I can no longer self-delude in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Years of drama ended up in self-destruction and gravely dangerous situations.
I am confined now to a single strategy: distractions (hoarding, shopping, travelling).
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