Echo ~ The Inverted Narcissist
How One Becomes the Narcissist’s Ultimate Supply
For those who are desperate to break away from the surreal malevolence of a malignant narcissist, it may seem all the more disorienting to consider that there are pathologically codependent folks who adore and latch on exclusively to narcissists. Yet they do indeed exist. As a complex trauma therapist and survivor, I have both treated others and recovered from what is referred to as inverted narcissism. Understood as a form of dependent personality disorder, and coined by Dr. Craig Malkin as echoism or Echo Personality Disorder (EPD), this unfortunate affliction explains the psychological machinations of those who are magnetically drawn to narcissists.
Dr. Malkin derived the term echoism from Ovid’s Metamorphosis, which contains the myth of the cruel shepherd boy Narcissus and the forest nymph Echo. Ovid’s story conveys the pathological obsession and devotion Echo had for Narcissus. Although rejected by him and tortured by his refusal to pay her any mind, Echo who was cursed by Juno, the Roman Goddess of love and marriage, was destined to be a mere echo chamber for Narcissus. Although Echo presented as highly articulate and communicative prior to her rapture with Narcissus, once entranced with him she was reduced to an echoing reply, never able to form her own thoughts or articulate…
