What is Purloin Gaslighting in Narcissistic abuse?

A narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by a recurring pattern of grandiosity, thoughts of having unrestricted power or importance, and a desire for, admiration, attention, and recognition or special treatment. (Kacel et al., 2017). 

Gaslighting is a type of psychological deception that attempts to instill doubt in the mind of a target person or members of a target group by leading them to doubt their own memory, perception, and sanity. (Petric, 2018)

Purloining means fraudulently taking something, often through a betrayal of trust. (“Purloin,” n.d.)

To fulfill this desire and to keep their ego intact they do Purloin Gaslighting. Purloin Gaslighting is a form of Gaslighting done by Narcissistic people in abusive relationships. 

Purloin Gaslighting has 4 forms:-

1. Narcissists publically share the credit for the work/achievement that has been done/gained solely by their victims, and the narcissist has clearly no contribution to it. They do this, without the victim’s consent, either on the face of the victim or behind their back. This causes feelings of frustration and betrayal in the victim.
2. Narcissists privately share the credit for the work/achievement that has been done/gained solely by their victims, and the narcissist has clearly no contribution to it. They do this on the face of the victim to make them feel crazy and frustrated.
3. They publically take full credit for the work they did together as a team with their victim, again without their consent in public, either on the face of the victim or behind their back. This causes feelings of frustration and betrayal in the victim.
4. They privately take full credit for the work they did together as a team with their victim, again without their consent in public, on the victim’s face to make them feel crazy and frustrated. 

Narcissists promote themselves (the admiration pathway) or degrade others (the rivalry pathway). (Grapsas et al., 2020)

References:-

1. Grapsas, S., Brummelman, E., Back, M. D., & Denissen, J. A. (2020). The “Why” and “How” of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(1), 150-172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619873350

2. Kacel, E. L., Ennis, N., & Pereira, D. B. (2017). Narcissistic Personality Disorder in Clinical Health Psychology Practice: Case Studies of Comorbid Psychological Distress and Life-Limiting Illness. Behavioral medicine (Washington, D.C.), 43(3), 156. https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2017.1301875

3. Petric, D. (2018). Gaslighting and the knot theory of mind. Research Gate. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.30838.86082

4. purloin. (n.d.). In The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/purloin