Narcissistic Mother: Healing Narcissism’s Pain Lori’s Story

Lori never knew what it was like to feel valued. She was treated by her mother worse than Snow White’s step mother treated her. From Lori’s earliest memory her mother would lock her in her bedroom when she was “bad.” Often Lori would be allowed to come out for meals only. When Lori did interact with the family she was criticized, spanked, hit, and otherwise shamed. You can imagine the emotional damage this did to Lori. Lori has two sisters that were treated with respect. Watching this over the years caused Lori further despair. “Why?” she asked herself. Many times Lori wished herself dead and would repeat to herself how unworthy she was. Lori’s mother was narcissistic and to add to the pain Lori was the product of a secret affair her mother had. You might think that with this tragic childhood Lori would be too damaged to treat in therapy and could only hope for the respite drugs could bring. When Lori came to me for help she was very motivated to heal herself. She listened with intense focus, read materials I gave her, and in spite of a raging cold did the processes I asked of her including a pillow hit to help her release anger. Lori showed great courage in facing her past and in doing so is guaranteed some significant healing. There is much Lori must do in her life to recover her self esteem and feel worthy but she has the warrior spirit required and will rise to the task.