Dr. Don WoodResolving Your Trauma-Based Challenges So You Can Unlock Peak Performance

Reacting to Narcissistic Behavior

3 Mar 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:44

Transcript excerpt of a YouTube video ("Reacting to Narcissistic Behavior") showing a brief heated exchange: Danny is upset that Speaker C booked a trip to Sweden without making it clear to him; Speaker C apologizes and offers explanations. Dr. Don Wood then offers analysis, suggesting both parties are poor communicators rather than narcissists — noting that the presence of apology and willingness to step back are signs inconsistent with narcissism.

Sweden? I had no idea.
Well, what do you mean? Because I told you I wanted to go.
Okay, fine, but I didn't know you were going.
I just decided today I wasn't keeping it from you.
You already have a ticket.
I'm sorry.
Okay, well, just imagine if you were at a party and someone said, hey, what are you doing for summer? And then my friend said, oh, we're going to China for three months and we're leaving two weeks.
It's Sweden for the first time.
And that was the first you ever heard of it.
Okay, I told you I wanted.
To go to Sweden.
No, you said it would be cool to go.
Yeah, and then I got the opportunity and I decided.
To do it.
You going? I just wish you would have told me, that's all.
Well, I just apologized. Danny, you.
Didn'T apologize. You said sorry, which sounds more like too bad.
Maybe I should just go home.
I didn't see either one of them as narcissists. I saw them as both poor communicators. Because she seemed to genuinely care about how he was feeling, was worried about offending them. Narcissists could care less. He seemed to be listening to her, but wasn't quite getting it. The fact that he apologized. You'll never see a narcissist apologize. They could care less. And so he was trying to say, maybe I should leave because this isn't going to go anywhere. Right? He was trying to get out of the problem. A narcissist would force his opinion on you. Narcissists don't want to get out of it. They want to win.