Parents for Dog Bite Awareness

Not every #narcissist is overt. An overt narcissist is the classic image people see in their heads when they think of narcissism. These profiles tend to be extroverted, loud, boastful, charismatic, and powerful.

But, invert or covert narcissism is different. It’s an insidious form that might also be more common in female profiles. This tracks with the pet rescue industry, where motherly looking personalities dominate the landscape. They are helpers, saviors, heroes and martyrs.

What is an invert/covert narcissist?

#Invert and #Covert subtypes pretend to be altruistic. This allows them to hurt others but more easily evade detection or confrontation. If someone calls them out or accuses them of abuse, they can lean on their false image of looking meek, powerless, and kind. This in turn causes the whistleblower to look crazy or mean, reinforcing their background power.

This is why you see #pitbull lovers claiming they care about dogs. Or claiming to be better than other people for adopting rescue dogs. But then they behave in hypocritical ways, such as minimizing and denying violent maulings or laugh-reacting to stories of children who were killed by pitbulls.

What’s really happening here?

To the typical narcissist/psychopath/sociopath profile, other people and animals are akin to cardboard cutouts. The narcissists are the main characters and everybody else serves them, almost like NPCs in a videogame or props in a movie.

They do not view their #pittbulls as living beings with individual needs, behaviors, or desires. Rather, they see their dogs as an extension of themselves, similar to how we would regard our hair or nails. They do not, and scientifically speaking cannot, view any person or animal as anything more than this. Like chess pieces on a board or tools in their garage, people and dogs exist merely to worship the abuser, enable them to meet a goal, or otherwise serve them.

It is this lack of theory of mind and empathy that factors into the invert narcissist’s breed choice. Currently, pitbulls satisfy multiple narcissistic needs:

1. Delusions of grandeur, a critical diagnostic feature of narcissism, is supported by the idea that rescuing a pitbull is superior to purchasing a balanced dog from a breeder. The more unique, disturbing, shocking, or difficult the dog, the more it fuels this cognitive issue. They do not want a dog like everyone else. They must have a special dog that is cooler, stronger, and set apart from the pack.

2. Delusions of persecution, another diagnostic feature prominent in narcissism, is supported by the current societal falsehood that pitbulls are the underdog. Narcissists latch onto this one to fuel the idea that they are innocent saints saving the poor pibble. You’ll easily spot this invert narcissist because they will appropriate victimhood, oppression, racism, discrimination, etc to support their narrative. They might craft tales about being refused entry into a store, or people crossing the street to avoid their dogs. Any small slight or offense triggers what’s known as the narcissistic ego wound, often resulting in a rage-filled reaction from them. This can occur even if the so-called offense was unintended.

3. Deniability. A reigning trait of narcissism is the complete refusal to take responsibility or accountability for any action. And the current pitbull situation is perfect for this personality. With myths surrounding the breed, they can deny, deny, and deny until the cows come home. They can blame it on the dog being abused. Blame it on the dog not being trained by the prior owner. Blame it on undiagnosed pain. Blame it on the victim somehow triggering an attack. Blame it on the media targeting them. Blame and deny are the bread and butter of the narcissist and the way the pitbull narrative is crafted in our society right now serves them well. Deniability is an early childhood cognitive defense mechanism, which suggests their brain development was damaged in that time period. It means you are essentially dealing with a 3 year old who truly believes whatever they say is reality.

4. Martyr Complex. With pitbulls portrayed as innocent doggies being horrifically abused against their loving nature, combined with the rescue industry promoting the idea that you’re a savior, covert narcissists flock to adopt pitbulls to gain this martyrdom image. The classic narcissist is superior through performance, traits, and other prideful elements. For the covert narcissist, she is superior because she rescues, saves, and helps pitbulls. You don’t, so you are less than her and in fact the enemy. Besides satisfying the narcissistic need to always be better than others, this martyr image allows them to abuse pets and people in the background, covering up their actions with the false image of sainthood. You can spot this in a variety of ways, such as women registering as 501c3 rescues but then being arrested for severe animal abuse.

In the end, all of these aspects of the pitbull rescue industry combine to create a tantalizing choice for the narcissist. They can own a dog they consider bigger, stronger, and superior to other dogs. They can threaten, intimidate, or even outright maul and kill other people and pets but have strong deniability. And they can look like a saint the entire time. This perfect storm remains a feature of the current crisis, a reminder that we must change the pitbull narrative itself to change the violent crisis playing out across the globe.