The Narcissist's Playbook Documentary: When Raising Awareness Risks Creating More Fear
If you have ever experienced an unhealthy or abusive relationship, or developed an interest in narcissism because of one, you may recognise the feeling of coming out of it with what feels like a PhD in the subject. You read, you watch, you research. You try to understand what happened, why it happened and, perhaps most importantly, how you did not see it sooner.
I have worked with people affected by unhealthy and abusive relationships for many years, and as the author of Game Over: Uncovering the Secrets of Unhealthy Relationship Behaviours and Manipulation I have a particular interest in the behaviours that can appear within them. So I was genuinely interested to watch Narcissist's Playbook documentary, the website describes it as being viewed through the lens of “four self-confessed, self-aware malignant narcissists”, alongside survivors and mental health professionals. Contributors include Dr Ramani Durvasula and Richard Grannon.
A spoiler warning before I go on: I am going to discuss parts of the documentary.
Do We Really Need More Monsters?
At the very beginning of the film, we are given the idea that many people do not want to believe monsters exist, immediately followed by the opinion that they do exist, and that they are human. It is dramatic, there is ominous music, and cinematically I can understand why it has been done. Therapeutically though, it feels quite uncomfortable.
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