Narcissists are the most superficial bunch of people you can imagine. Everything about them is a charade, right down to their apologies.
On the rare occasion they do apologize, there isn’t one sincere thing about it. Maybe they say the right words, but I can assure you, there is nothing sincere about apologies coming from a narcissist.
If you’re wondering how you can be sure whether or not the narcissist in your life truly means their apology, I am going to list some differences below between a sincere apology & a narcissistic apology.
- Sincere apologies always include accepting responsibility for the wrong that was done & don’t shift blame. Narcissists may say they are sorry for what they did, but then they make an excuse for it. “I’m sorry I said that, but I wouldn’t have said it if you wouldn’t have done….” Or, they may even deny doing what they did entirely, making you feel like you’re crazy.
- If the behavior doesn’t change, the apology isn’t sincere. People who truly are sorry for hurting another person do their best never to repeat that behavior. Insincere apologies may sound sincere sometimes, but the fact the offending person’s behavior didn’t change is a big clue that they didn’t mean their apology.
- Insincere apologies are passive/aggressive. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” “I’m sorry you think what I did was wrong.” While the words “I’m sorry” are being said, it’s clear the person saying such things doesn’t believe they have done something wrong. The person is angry about being called out on their behavior, & will apologize just to shut you up.
- Insincere apologies are vague, rather than specific. Rather than saying, “I’m sorry I cheated on you,” a narcissist may say, “I know I’ve made some mistakes in our marriage.”
- Sometimes apologies can be used to hurt you. My mother once told me she realized she made a lot of mistakes while raising me. I thought maybe she realized what she did to me & wanted to apologize for it. She sounded so sincere. Instead, she continued by saying “Obviously I made mistakes. Just look at how you turned out.” She guaranteed I would pay attention by sounding sincere & by what she said. Once she had my full attention, she dropped that cruel bomb on me.
- Sincere apologies acknowledge the pain that was caused, while insincere ones ignore it. Using the cheating spouse example again, a sincere apology would be something like, “I’m sorry I cheated on you. I know doing that has devastated you. I’m so sorry..it was wrong & it’ll never happen again, I promise.” Narcissists lack empathy, so your pain that they caused is one of two things- not even a blip on their radar because they didn’t think of you in the slightest, or your pain is something they enjoyed causing you.
- A narcissist expects you to accept their apology once they say it, then drop the topic forever. Narcissists don’t want to discuss what happened. In their minds, saying they’re sorry (no matter how insincerely it’s said) once is good enough. They said that, so you should be over it & never bring it up again.
- Narcissists love to make the victim feel that they should forgive & forget. If you’re a Christian, have been wronged or abused by a narcissist & they apologize to you, chances are very good the narcissist will make you feel like you’re a terrible example of your faith if you don’t forgive & forget what was done to you. This apology can make you feel as bad or worse than the original offense.
- Some narcissists apologize for something they think you’re upset about in order to placate you. My father has done this. After my mother in-law passed away in 2016, my parents & I had a huge argument. My father later apologized to me for asking if my husband & I were still together during that argument. (He kept trying to deflect me off the topic). Granted, it wasn’t a good thing to ask, but it also wasn’t the reason I was so angry with him. I told him that & explained exactly why I was angry. He looked at me like a deer in the headlights. Clearly, he couldn’t understand why I’d be upset that he & my mother wanted to “pay their respects” to someone who had been so cruel & abusive to me. Also, it was obvious he thought that all should be fine- he apologized. Never mind the fact what he apologized for wasn’t the thing he should have apologized for.
Dear Reader, please keep these actions in mind when you must deal with a narcissist. Remembering them will help you not to buy their insincere apology. You don’t need that aggravation! If you fall for their apology, they’ll see you as someone they can manipulate & do so more & more. Who needs that?! You don’t! And, you deserve to be treated better than that.
Just last night he tried (unsuccessfully) to distract me with a version of this that was so ridiculous that even HE couldn’t keep track of what he was saying!
I just told him, “I don’t know what you’re TALKING about,” like he loves to do to me, and let him sniff and stomp until he realized he had no audience.
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Wow.. you know their b.s. is bad when they get lost in it. lol Unbelievable!!
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My dad will say,”I was just kiddin’!”,when I call him on something,like it was all a joke.No he wasn’t,he thought about what he was going to say beforehand,like when he mocks the way we talk,or the way we answer the phone
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Yeah; my N’s got his own version of that: “I’m jokin’ aROUND! Lighten UUUUP!”
I’ve been ridiculed for (I SWEAR I’m not making this up) the way I roll my used panty liners in toilet paper before throwing them out.
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Wow! I didn’t know there were rules for that! Unbelievable!
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It’s actually hilarious, or would be in a different context.
I mean; exactly HOW bored ARE you that THIS is what you even NOTICE?!
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LOL! Very good point!
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Wow,that exceeds personal boundaries,which doesn’t surprise me.Narcs have no limit as to what they do and say
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It also seems that you were probably doing that in order to be considerate to the people around you, including the narcissist. But that’s the thing with narcissists…if you try to be kind, you will get beaten down even more.
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Yeah; right?! Silly me! (Eyeroll)
(A sort of a variation on the panty liner thing is the emotional / verbal beating I get when, in our low-flush toilet, a piece of clean-looking toilet paper gets stuck to the inside of the bowl. All of this, BTW, from a man who goes — literally — MONTHS without showering.)
Somewhere along the line this mantra evolved itself in my head:
“Never cast your precious pearl self before swine.”
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Yes, please don’t. All of that sounds insane.
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Right! It’s not a joke! On the off chance it was, he would’ve apologized rather than get defensive
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Yes,amen!
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Reblogged this on A Blog About Healing From PTSD and commented:
Cynthia Bailey Rug’s post on the difference between a sincere apology and a narcissistic apology is so brilliant, I just had to share it:
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Reblogged this on Emerging From The Dark Night and commented:
Thank you Linda Lee for reblogging this post. I think its important to know when we are NOT on the recieving end of an honest apology.
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This is SO true!!!! My husband does all of these things. Thank you for sharing.
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You’re welcome!
I’m sorry you have to put up with that!
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You’re welcome!
I’m so sorry you have to put up with that!
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Reblogged this on Art by Rob Goldstein and commented:
from CynthiaBaileyRug
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The only apologies I ever got was a SCREAMING “I’m sorry!” I would always say “that’s not an apology. That’s more abuse.”
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You’re absolutely right about that. That isn’t an apology at all. It’s abuse!
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“I SAID I was sorry!”
“Yes, you did.”
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So familiar.
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Pingback: After No Contact | CynthiaBaileyRug
I can relate to so many of these in my experiences. Thank you for sharing this.
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You’re welcome. 🙂
I’m sorry you’ve had those experiences
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Thank you.
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