Alexis Fernandez-Preiksa

And then crickets, absolute crickets.

God forbid you mention anything that is boundary related, something purely about you.

You're not trying to control them.

You're not saying anything about their behavior.

And knowing you, you probably already are walking on eggshells because you know that

Anything can set them off.

You know, a narcissist is very often a ticking time bomb.

So when you do make this comment, it's probably quite, you know, whittled down to the politest way to make this request.

And even then, they will completely withhold communication.

They will withhold talking to you.

It is a silent treatment.

It is such an effective way to emotionally manipulate someone.

It's very obviously unhealthy, very unfair.

But it's very effective because...

One of the things that hurts relationships the most is when someone doesn't want to open up, when someone shuts you out and doesn't want to communicate.

So to get you to never criticize them, they pull that stunt on you a couple of times and then you put two and two together and you think, oh, I don't want to say anything.

I don't want to say anything because then they're not going to talk to me for ages.

I'm going to rock the boat too much.

It's going to ruin our evening.

It's going to ruin our afternoon.