While everyone’s spouse is selfish from time to time, it can be a whole different ballgame to be married to someone with a narcissistic personality disorder.
Clinical narcissism is characterized by a preoccupation with self, sense of entitlement, lack of empathy, inability to confront faults, need for admiration, and objectifying others.
What to do if this describes your spouse? I have no idea, but thankfully Tony Overbay does! As an Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, he walks us through the dos and don’ts of being married to a narcissist. Tony has his own therapy podcast called The Virtual Couch and his recent episode on narcissism made me feel like we HAD to have him on our show!
The song in the hot seat this week is the classic “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon (I bet you’re singing the song in your head now aren’t you, aren’t you?). Rich’s re-written version includes a narcissist walking into a therapist’s office and is not to be missed!
Also, this episode has my favorite “Rich sings our ITunes reviews” segment EVER!
Show Notes
Tony’s podcast, The Virtual Couch.
Tony’s pornography recovery program, The Path Back.
Episodes of The Virtual Couch Mentioned in this Episode:
- Episode 89: What is Gaslighting: Do you feel like you’re losing your mind in your relationship?
- Episode 4: Author Tina Fuller on Narcissism
- Episode 31: Narcissism 101: Everything you ever wanted to know about narcissism
- Episode 86: Understanding Today’s Narcissist with Christine Hammond
- Episode 67: Rules of Constructive Kommunication (ROCK) How to communicate more effectively
- Episode 12: Raising Your Emotional Baseline Will Change Your Life!
Rich’s re-written lyrics:
“You both walked into to counseling
Like you were walking into a jail
You made the appointment weeks ago
But you’re dreading it I can tell
And it didn’t take long for me to see
By the blaming that you did
And all the answers you gave -you’re nacissistic, quite narcissistic and…
You’re so vain
It probably hard… to be around you
You’re so vain
bet-your Partner thinks it’s hard to be ’round you, ’round you
Some advice now, to you partner
About some strategies they can use
At times you may have to disengage
Beware of emotional abuse
Don’t let them isolate or gaslight you
And make you feel confused
Know that there’s ways that you can both learn to cope with, successfully cope with …
They’re so vain
I bet it can be really hard on you
They’re so vain
Mental disorders can be hard on you both of you.”