What if you realize you have a narcissistic mother-in-law? Your spouse, the child of the narcissist, may not realize that dealing with the parental narcissist is more taxing and harder than dealing with anyone else.
So what happens when you marry into having a narcissistic mother-in-law? How are you supposed to manage her unreasonable, invasive demands? You’re not even biologically programmed to love this woman, yet you may feel you have to put up with her because your spouse does.
When you first meet your narcissistic mother-in-law to be, she may act charming and witty. She may appear genuinely interested in you and your life. In reality, she may only want to appear close to you in order to use your trust and confidence against you or your spouse later.
It may not be until the relationship between you and your partner gets serious, or even until marriage, that you start to feel her wrath. She may see you as competition, vying for control over her child’s love, loyalty and attention.
She’s a master manipulator and knows what to say and do to make you think she really cares. She’s also skilled in planting the seed of doubt.
Narcissistic mother-in-laws have been operators and controllers since childhood, perfecting their craft as they age. They brag, nag, and intrude to get what they want. Narcissistic mother in laws compete, and often defeat, those who attempt to have healthy boundaries. The boundary violating relationship she likely created with her child threatened by you. You’ve come into the picture and taken her narcissistic supply away.
You may recall the movie Monster-In-Law, starring Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez. Jane Fonda plays a successful TV host and the mother to a son who falls in love with Jennifer Lopez’s character.
When Fonda’s character meets Lopez, Fonda is engaging but the audience sees she is a fake. As soon as she finds out they are getting married, BOOM! Fonda does everything in her power to try to eject Lopez from her son’s life.
In the movie, her son was her golden child. This is the child who could do no wrong in her eyes. He only deserved the best. No one could be good enough for her son.
A narcissistic mother often chooses a son to be her golden child. If this golden child grows up and ends up being the partner you fall in love with, this could be a serious problem. Unfortunately, no partner may ever be good enough for a golden child.
In the movie, the narcissistic mother’s son never saw the manipulative side of her, but it was there all along. The couple’s relationship almost breaks apart right before the wedding. Luckily, Fonda’s character has a sudden change of heart and agrees not to interfere with the relationship anymore.
That last part is, of course, the Hollywood happy ending the audience waits for. In the real world, not the one on the big screen, this is definitely not a typical case. The damage of a narcissistic mother-in-law opens wounds for years to come in both spouse and the narcissistic mother’s grandchildren.
From the narcissistic mother-in-law’s perspective, “giving away” her child to an adult partner isn’t an option. If that child was her mirror or golden child, the perceived loss can be excruciating to the narcissistic mother-in-law. She’ll feel threatened.
In contrast, if her child was in the scapegoat role, you’re going to hear about it. She’ll try to enlist you against her adult child. You will be targeted to join with the narcissistic mother. If not, you will be her enemy. Even more confusing, these roles can flip flop over time.
If your partner was in the lost child role, the maternal narcissist may resent that you are “distracting the family” from her or her other children such as the golden child. Unwanted distraction, for instance, with your marriage ceremony. She may even resent your children. How dare you steal the spotlight from her and her chosen ones with your normal life?
Whatever the role your NMIL put your partner in, you and your spouse must show a united front in arguments and disagreements between you and your narcissistic mother-in-law. Your partner relationship will be only as strong as the values you mutually agree to maintain. Whoever affronts them, mother or not, simply cannot be trusted if you wish to protect your intimate bond.
If your spouse isn’t yet aware he or she has a narcissistic parent, refrain from talking about her flaws without clear examples of the negative behavior. Initially, your spouse may have difficulty seeing the dysfunctional behavior because, to survive a narcissistic mother in the first place, your partner may have used coping strategies like “minimizing” or “denying” his or her parent was and is abusive.
Set limits with her and make sure your spouse is aware and agrees to these limits. Remember, she is emotionally very young, and like a child will test your boundaries. Decide together what role your narcissistic mother-in-law is going to play in your new lives.
If she can, your narcissistic mother-in-law will nitpick at everything you do, from how you spend your resources like money and time, to how you keep your house to how you raise your kids. She wants a say in everything and is good at getting into your personal space.
Even when limits are put into place, it may not stop her from overstepping your boundaries. If things do not change, you and your spouse may need to strictly limit interactions with her (low contact) or completely sever them (no contact).
In a normal family, tensions usually ease or are at least tolerated over time. You were probably not raised the same way as your spouse nor did you grow up with the same values, beliefs, and family issues and problems. Getting married means accepting differences and making each other better people. When it comes to a narcissistic mother-in-law, however, you and your spouse are expected to make unreasonable concessions.
In a narcissistic family system, issues are more difficult to overcome. Remember, the less functional a family, the more rigidly it holds onto old, unproductive patterns.
Be aware of your narcissistic mother-in-law’s history in order to better defend against her manipulations. Narcissists are toxic but predictable. If you observe her dysfunction with a studied eye, you and your spouse can effectively strategize against her repetitive boundary violations and unrealistic expectations.
The motivation for her narcissistic behavior may be the result of a myriad of causes which can hint at future inappropriate behavior. She may have been spoiled or overindulged when she was a child.
She may be the product of narcissistic parenting, perhaps the daughter of a narcissistic mother herself, and was only loved conditionally based on achievements and performance. Her toxic behavior could also be due to some form of abuse or neglect as a child and her narcissism resulted as a defense mechanism to it all.
Knowing her history doesn’t excuse her hurtful actions but can better equip you to protect yourself, your spouse and children from a maternal narcissist.
Unlike her, you are capable of being empathetic. You can walk in another person’s shoes and take a look from their perspective.
Although there are ways of confronting your narcissistic mother-in-law in a fair way to set limits, normal limit setting may not be enough to curb the toxic behavior of a NMIL.
As a reasonable person, you’ll usually first attempt the gentle boundary setting which has worked with mentally healthy people throughout your life, but eventually be forced by the pathology of the NMIL to go to greater lengths like low or no contact to protect your relationship against the bizarre violation of the healthy boundaries you and your partner have established. Decide on the amount of phone calls, visits, and exposure that you and your family receive from any narcissist.
Don’t take what she says to heart as she can only reflect back a distorted view of others due to her own impairment and her perceptions of you will be flawed.
As a couple, discuss your limits and boundaries regarding your NMIL. Then, set them in order to decrease the likelihood your narcissistic mother-in-law will hurt your relationship or the ones you love.
