When Narcissists Become Sociopathic

As narcissists progress into adulthood, not only do they not tend to grow psychologically, but often they can become more difficult. Dr. Les Carter describes how some narcissists will allow patterns of a sociopathic nature to gain traction. As that occurs, what began as a difficult person becomes even more dysfunctional.

It also is available on Google, Apple, Spotify, and Amazon.

Sign up for Dr. Carter's course: Ready, Set, Connect
Get 20% off when you use the coupon code: rsc20youtube

Dr. Les Carter is a best selling author and therapist who has semi-retired to Waco, TX. For 40+ years he maintained a counseling practice in Dallas, conducting more than 65,000 therapy sessions and many workshops and seminars. He specializes in anger management and narcissistic personality disorder.

You can follow Surviving Narcissism on:
Twitter: @SNarcissism101
Instagram: @survivingnarcissism101
Facebook: @survivingnarcissism101

Dr. Carter has two other courses that you may find to be useful:

[MissPril]

I'm a 64 year old child. Abused since day one by a severely narc " mother".although I am 3+ years no contact. When someone is genuinely kind to me it breaks my heart. You, Dr. Carter left me a very small kind response once, I burst into tears at the time and still hold that kindness dear. I am healing, your helping all of us heal. Thank you Sir. P.S. ( months later) Thanks to every single kind heart that has left an encouraging post.
GOD BLESS YOU.

[melaniegerard]

Wonderful advice, as usual. I spent 20 years with a man who went from Narcissist to Sociopath in his later years.
A little over 2 years ago, he took me hiking. He ended- up driving off and leaving me in the wilderness. I found myself walking a dirt road at dusk, in the middle of nowhere. (This was in the fall in Oregon, in a canyon known for having mountain lions.)
After walking for about 45 minutes, I saw a car's headlights coming my way. It was the Sociopath. He claimed it was all a big joke. I had to accept a ride home from him because there were no other cars out there at that time of night.
I started planning my escape after that.
Sociopaths will kill you and then pretend to be the grieving spouse, just to get attention.
I am lucky to be alive, 3000 miles away from that evil man.

[lorrainejackson]

Hello everyone. I'm really struggling to survive. This sounds exactly what I'm dealing with 😢 Thank you all for being there ❤

[jonnyblade]

It's my experience that narcs have this "sociopathic mode". It doesn't always show, but it's easily triggered.
I remember several times when I've looked at my mom or my sister and thought 'Whoa! This person is cold as ice. Therese nobody home. No heart, no empathy ". It's very disturbing.

[sharontalley]

They are like a time bomb waiting to explode on you. They scream in your face, call you names, lie to you and everyone they come in contact with. You mean absolutely nothing to them except to serve their irrational ideas of who you should be and how best they can use you for their sadistic purposes.

[IzabelaWaniek-ix]

When you are in the presence of a sociopath, you are in the presence of evil. Keep your distance. Thank you dr Carter. God bless you❤

[equalityforall]

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

[marct]

My next-door neighbour is like this. He got himself elected as a local Government officer, and then took it to the extreme, as he couldn't be touched. No one believed the abuse I got because 'he's such a nice bloke'. Loud music when I was trying to spend time relaxing in my garden, when I asked for him to be reasonable, he turned it up. He would happily go and sort a local parking dispute, then block my car access to my own property and say I was being unreasonable. A lot of what he did was on purpose...then he was the victim when I challenged him, I was unreasonable, petty, unfair. At my wits end for years, and no consideration or empathy for my mental health condition. Complaining to local government office was useless as he was 'protected'.
Got to the point I was thinking of moving from the only home I've ever felt comfortable in
Then a few months ago, call it divine intervention, he called in to say he was moving and renting the property out. I now have a lovely family next door, and he's gone.
My mental health has improved so much. I can go out into my garden and enjoy it knowing he's not going to spoil every day.

[RatedArggg]

My narc/sociopath mother would get a gleeful, sadistic look on her face when people were suffering. Especially when she was the one causing the suffering.

[angellacanfora]

It was probably one of the saddest days of my life, the day I realized my parent is a genuine sociopath.

[TimBadger-wd]

This is exactly how my wife behaves. She creates chaos and drama all the time - which is completely exhausting - and just says ‘that’s life - just get used to it’. Every person she comes into contact with only lasts a short time - they just want to get away from the craziness.

[deborahlacy]

I thank God daily that
I finally got rid of him
33 years ago. The BEST years of my adult life.

[susanyoung]

Many years ago, I thought most people were basically good. I thought bad behavior was from being misunderstood or from having an abused background. It was a bit of a shock to realize that these were "hollow" people and lacked a soul. No amount of nurturing is going to help them bloom like a flower. They'll just become Audrey from Little House of Horrors and eat you. I didn't know there was a name for this then.

[RachelPenningtonHull]

Described my dad perfectly. When you know someone isn’t right in the head but nobody listens to you because he can do the Jekyll and Hyde thing and among strangers he can turn on the charisma and own the room, but you know what a moral basket case this person really is, and nobody listens to you, and he is loose on the public like some kind of psycho time bomb but there’s nothing you can do about it….

[CL-lowd]

This sounds exactly like a situation I just left. I love how so many people cavalierly say “just go no contact”, without realizing how dangerous some of these situations can be. In the same way that ANYBODY a can be manipulated into joining a cult, anybody can be manipulated into a toxic relationship. It’s not a matter of intelligence on the part of the eventual victim, nor is it about willpower. These sociopathic narcissists are Oscar worthy actors, master manipulators who continuously perfect their craft. They are always 10 steps ahead of decent individuals with empathy. Having information such as Dr. Carter, Dr. Ramani, and Dan Shaw provide is quite recent. It helps tremendously, but for many of us it is still part of a “hindsight is 20/20” situation, because the damage has already been done. And again, depending on the particular situation, especially when domestic violence is involved, the most dangerous time happens to be when the victim leaves. That’s when the victim is most likely to be murdered. These people are truly evil.

[AlastairjCarruthers]

The first time I ever thought about personality disorders in relation to my ex, long before I'd even heard of narcissism or considered that she might be one, was when she told me that both her ex-husband and her estranged adult daughter from that marriage had separately told her they thought she was a sociopath.

She clearly expected me to be shocked to hear this and tell her no, of course she isn't a sociopath. In fact I went kinda quiet and thought to myself "dang, that would explain so much..."

[julianterris]

They don't overtly teach kids about narcissism in schools, but I remember this (covert) classic "Never smile at a crocodile, No, you can't get friendly with a crocodile, Don’t be taken in by his welcome grin, He's imagining how well you'd fit within his skin". I do believe that they were talking about "alligators". Alligators, crocodiles and psychopaths have no *capacity* for empathy. ⚠

[StoutandSteady]

I can tell you from experience that a narcissist can go a long time appearing totally normal, but then one day when your guard is down they hit you where it hurts for no good reason.

[roxymovie]

The Sociopath I was dealing with pulled me into his games very quickly and so intensly that I became very dizzy and confused...Never ever expierenced something like this before. Terrifying.

Today I know, Sociopath need pure dominance/power and they know exactly which buttons to push to trigger your emotions to gain control over you. They love to frighten you, their game on "hot-cold" is beyond because they need to get whatever they want in the moment. Never seen such a master chameleon before.

[sallyflavell]

A friend said to me recently, how could you get involved with someone like my ex partner after what he did to you? I felt so hurt by her words but today I realise it’s because she has never been involved with a sociopath like my ex. They really are very hard to escape. I was told by a lawyer to change my name and leave the country and never look back. I was broke and fearful and had no support from family as they were sucked in by his lies and thought I was at fault and he was a doctor so had all the power. It was his brother who told me of his sociopathy and it all makes sense now but the damage done to me and my kids has been devastating. I still find life very challenging at 73 even though I have no contact with him for decades. However my daughter is still under his influence and sadly believes a lot of his lies. I have to live with it. Very hard to deal with the deep remorse of not doing what that lawyer told me to do many years ago. At the time I had no strength in me as I was allways confused and just trying to survive life with this monster and his manipulations. Trust shattered. Fearful and anxious daily. Trauma so deep. Thankyou for these videos as I do feel very much alone. The Lord got me through and I know he is going to help me through these types of videos. Bless you!❤