An expert has spoken about the reason why a narcissist won't admit they're wrong, even if you're able to show them they've made a mistake.
For plenty of people, being proven wrong by someone close to us is a fairly unpleasant experience, but it's not exactly the end of the world. Yes, you thought something was right but it turns out something else actually was and now you know.
You may feel daft for a bit, but that'll subside soon enough and you can move on.
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Unless, of course, you're dealing with a narcissist as according to relationship coach Christina, they would rather move heaven and Earth before admitting they were wrong.
She runs a YouTube channel called Common Ego and explained why a narcissist wouldn't be able to admit when they got something wrong.
'Admitting the mistake challenges their false persona'
"For most of us it's a no-brainer, just admit the silly mistake and move on," the relationship coach said of being shown you got something wrong.
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"For a narcissist it's more complicated because admitting the mistake challenges their false persona, and there's a reason that false persona exists, a big reason. That false persona is a defence mechanism to protect them from vulnerability.
"So imagine a narcissist like an astronaut with a very purposeful pressurised environment in their space suit, every time you ask them to admit a mistake it's like you're throwing a rock in their direction.
"A rock that could cause a crack in their helmets and expose them to an environment they can't survive in, or at least they don't know how to survive in."
She explained that a narcissist would 'need that false persona like we need oxygen', meaning a mistake that punctured their persona would be catastrophic for them.
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Narcissists need 'control over the narrative'
Twinned with the need to feed their false persona was a need to maintain control, and getting something wrong and being shown they made a mistake can rob them of that control.
Christina added that a narcissist would need 'control over the narrative' where they would get to decide what was right and wrong, and showing they were wrong could take this control away from them.
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There has been much discussion of narcissists and the red flags you would need to watch out for when interacting with them, and having people around them who believe pretty much everything they say is something to look out for.
Christina herself has talked further about the questions a narcissist would struggle to answer honestly, including asking them whether or not they're actually happy.
She also said that a narcissist would sometimes come out with a 'word salad' when they couldn't actually come up with a response, so look out for that too.
Topics: Mental Health, Sex and Relationships
Joe Harker