Post-narcissist stress disorder (PNSD) signs occurs with someone who has lived with and faced abuse by a narcissist. Similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, a disorder in which someone faces a trauma in their lives that instills fear and helplessness, PNSD has a very similar effect.
Avoidance
A sign of PNSD would be avoidance. It can be avoiding activities, people, relationships, or any social situations you liked to do. A person who suffers PNSD also avoids thinking or talking about the narcissist. What avoidance does is lead to disruption in different places of a person’s life, such as difficulty building a relationship or even maintaining close relationships.
Intrusive memories
A person who suffers PNSD would have intrusive memories that question one’s mental stability. They would have sudden flashbacks to the time they were abused and would relive the situation by seeing images of the narcissist. This disrupts the life of a person who has PNSD, it gets difficult to get back on your feet when someone faces a trauma like this.
Anxiety
PNSD can also lead to an immense amount of anxiety. This can include panic attacks, paranoia, insomnia, and low self-esteem. With low self-esteem one starts to question their self-worth and struggle to do everyday tasks. Even meeting people becomes difficult where one would start to question other people’s intentions.
Emotional numbness
Being numb to love and life may be another sign of PNSD. It would be a point where you have no emotion towards anything in life. The feeling of emotional numbness can be a feeling of emptiness or isolation, as it is different for everyone. Many times, this emotional numbness stems from anxiety and depression.
Sources:
https://themindsjournal.com/post-narcissist-stress-pnsd/
http://fullyawaremind.com/post-narcissist-stress-disorder/
https://www.healthline.com/health/feeling-numb#causes
