Most kids grow up thinking their parents know what’s best. They see their family’s habits as normal and might not realize that other families can be very different. It can take years before they look back and see their childhood differently.
Having narcissistic parents can make this even harder. Daily life might include constant criticism, unfair expectations, and little support, so it’s tough to know what a healthy family really looks like.
On Reddit, people are sharing the moments that made them question their upbringing, the signs they noticed years later, and the experiences that finally helped them understand their parents’ behavior. Their stories offer a glimpse into what growing up in these households can really feel like.
#81
My mother developed dementia and got committed because she went into psychosis. The doctors kept asking about all the things she wa s bragging about. Her grandiosity even after getting medicated and stabilized. That was just this year. I think deep down I always knew but because everyone kept saying she was just eccentric all my life but I got the cruel version at home.
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3points
#82
I probably realised in full with how I felt like I was never good enough, and how others were just so peacefully living. It confused the hell out of me when I was a kid and people were actually happy with their life😭.
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3points
#83
15-16 when I started researching "why is my mom uniquely scary".
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2points
#85
Never even familiar with the concept until seeing Dr. Ramaini's videos, immediately realized it since they checked all the boxes.
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2points
#87
Disgusted of Nmom's disgusting carthartic emotional behaviour, she is disgusting.
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2points
#88
I started going to therapy and after a few months my therapist basically told me my parents were. I did a quick google and they fit the characteristics perfectly.
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2points
#89
My 30s after dating my ex and starting therapy. I knew my parents were immature but I didn't know it was narcissism until I was identifying toxic traits my ex was doing.
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2points
#90
I realized something was wrong when an adult I knew told me to be careful around my mom when I was 5. I suspected something was really wrong in my teen years. It wasn't until my 20s, I began to understand what narcissistic personality disorder was.
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2points
#91
I was in my fifties before I put the label on it. Until them, the understanding was that mom was complicated and tread lightly.
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2points
#92
I came across the term “martyr mom”
when I was a young teen and for a long time I thought that was what my mom was, just a victim of every scenario. I then thought she was borderline in my late 20s and with the help of my therapist I understood she was actually a narcissist as she didn’t have the Emotional instability of a borderline and she was way more tactic way more self-absorbed way more in search of narcissistic supply consistently so I understood she was a narcissist. After understanding the term deeply and knowing she was never going to change I then (and after a lot of conflict) was able to go no contact a few months ago.
when I was a young teen and for a long time I thought that was what my mom was, just a victim of every scenario. I then thought she was borderline in my late 20s and with the help of my therapist I understood she was actually a narcissist as she didn’t have the Emotional instability of a borderline and she was way more tactic way more self-absorbed way more in search of narcissistic supply consistently so I understood she was a narcissist. After understanding the term deeply and knowing she was never going to change I then (and after a lot of conflict) was able to go no contact a few months ago.
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2points
