Hi HeartofPilgrimage,
You bring up a very interesting point that I would love to know more about someday: The interaction between the disabilities of the autism spectrum, and narcissism. For example, say if you had a grandmother that had Asperger's disorder. Then, she has a daughter that is neurotypical but the grandmother was unable to model how to understand other people, and was unable to completely understand her daughter's feelings. Could that result in the daughter having narcissistic difficulties, although she might be neurotypical and technically capable of reading other people? And how does that affect the granddaughter down the line, who is born with the difficulties associated with Asperger's and raised with a narcissistic mother?
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the warm, open hearted and kind way you think about your craft. (The above paragraph is one many examples I've noticed where your compassion and thoughtfulness are at the forefront of your thinking). I grew up in a dysfunctional family headed by an unemotional mom who seemed not to care about anything but 'doing'. As best I'm able to determine, her mothering style was the source of 7 years of unspeakable pain in my life. During the first half of that 7 years, all I could do was blame, blame, blame. Somewhere in the second half my thinking began to change from placing blame on her to slowly accepting that she did what she knew how to do. Lighter (I think she is Mo2 now) says something I truly believe. She says that if people knew better they would do better. I believe that about my mom. There's much that she wasn't able to give me emotionally. In the end though, she taught me a very important lesson. She taught me not to look down my skinny nose at others whose struggle is different from mine. I love it that there are people with hearts like yours 'in the field' of psychology who don't slice and dice people (I know there's a better way to say it, but I'm going to say) along party lines.
God bless you.
tt
