Srishti Bhatt, Amita Puri
Narcissistic abuse has become a well-known type of psychological trauma in which indirect domination, affective control, and a gradual loss of independence of the victim are observed. Nevertheless, the prevailing models tend to propose the interpretation of abuse as cyclical or episodic, which is not sufficient to consider the ongoing emotional surveillance and emotional rules applied by narcissistic individuals. The given paper proposes the conceptual model of understanding narcissistic abuse as a dynamic system of emotional surveillance and control, the Narcissistic Abuse Thermometer. The model shows that the narcissistic perpetrators are continuously monitoring the emotional thermostat of their victims- checking the level of affective reactions, compliance, levels of distress and dependence to manage abusive behaviours in a strategic way. The abuser varies in intensity through hypotheticalization and emotional overutilization to gaslighting, devaluation, and punitive withdrawal to ensure they feel in control, provide, and be psychologically superior. The thermometer metaphor emphasizes the concept of abuse being responsive and adaptive and not linear or unchanging. This model entails clinical observations, theory of trauma, attachment models, as well as narcissistic personality dynamics, which is applied to aexternal way of regulating emotions, self-doubt, emotional regulation, and trauma bonding. The Narcissistic Abuse Thermometer can be applied by clinicians, researchers, and victims to identify the subtle nature of the abuse, enhance psychoeducation, and make interventions based on trauma knowledge. Such a change in attitude towards the abusive events can lead to further emotional recovery and improved comprehension of the processes of narcissistic abuse maintenance and the psychological impacts of this issue in the long term.