Romances with narcissists don’t deteriorate the way psychologists expected

Summary: People often think dating a narcissist starts out great and then suddenly crashes. A new study shows this isn't exactly true. Researchers looked at two types of narcissism: "admiration" (being charming and wanting attention) and "rivalry" (being hostile and looking down on others).

They found that narcissistic rivalry does lower relationship happiness, especially for the narcissist who always expects perfection. However, the romance doesn't suddenly fall apart after the honeymoon phase. Instead, happiness drops at the exact same slow rate as any normal relationship. The damage is more of a slow emotional drain than a quick explosion.

For more details, see PsyPost at psypost.org/romances-with-narcissists-dont-deteriorate-the-way-psychologists-expected/ (opens in new tab)