Entangling with a person who has Narcissistic Personality Disorder (or a likely combination of pathological disorders including sociopathy and psychopathy) can have a devastating effect on the quality of life for family members, friends, colleagues and intimate partners. Due to the stress of sustained psychological and emotional abuse, victims may develop a condition commonly known as Narcissistic Abuse Syndrome (NAS) or Narcissistic Victim Syndrome (NVS), which is a type of PTSD (basically a severe trauma disorder).
Symptoms include brain fog, pacing, confusion, anxiety, panic attacks, feeling trapped, insomnia, obsessive thoughts, exhaustion, depression, rapid heart rate, digestive issues, headaches, muscle aches and frequent or serious illness as a result of a depleted immune system. At its most extreme, victims of NPD abuse may develop suicidal thoughts or terminal disease.