Member-only story

5 Toxic Things Narcissists Say About Their Exes and What They REALLY Mean

Narcissistic and psychopathic individuals misuse common phrases to gaslight others.

Thought Catalog
4 min readJul 20, 2023

--

MEUM MARE

By Shahida Arabi

Narcissistic and psychopathic individuals misuse common phrases to gaslight others. They will usually depict their exes in a distorted way to manipulate their new targets and often use their new targets to retraumatize their exes. They may devalue or idealize their ex to you depending on their specific agenda. Here are five common toxic things they may say about their ex-partners and what they really mean — the last few may surprise you.

They were crazy and obsessed with me. They just can’t let go.

Translation: They tried to escape the relationship with me multiple times, and when I finally lost control over them, I labeled them crazy to others so no one would believe anything they said about me. They may not have been as interested in me initially, but I love-bombed them with lots of attention and affection to get them hooked in the beginning, then began devaluing them in subtle ways, testing their boundaries persistently until I got the reactions I wanted. I gaslit them and deliberately tried to provoke jealousy. This was so I could maintain my…

--

--

Thought Catalog
Thought Catalog

Written by Thought Catalog

We’re a community of creators based in NYC. We publish a digital magazine and limited edition books. thoughtcatalog.com // shopcatalog.com

Responses (5)

Write a response