Have you ever wondered if a narcissist regrets engaging in their manipulative behavior or just regrets some of their actions?

As Melanie Thomas expresses it, there are two aspects of regret as a component in our day-to-day interactions. She outlines that genuine regret involves showing feelings of remorse towards what you have done, owning up to your behaviors, and even taking proactive steps to correct your behavior. This implies that when you do wrong, you have a bit of regret and you’re willing to learn from it so that you will not repeat it in the future.

When it comes to narcissistic regret, they may regret something, but it’s not coming from the point of wanting to take ownership; it’s coming from the point of loss for them. They may regret losing you because you are a source of their supply. They may regret you leaving the relationship because you are helping them out on something and not because they want to change something about themselves.

They regret, but it’s coming out from the point of being self-absorbed. It’s coming out as an aspect of them losing something which suits their personal agenda. It’s not about regret then changing the behavior, it’s regret of losing something beneficial to them.

So in terms of them regretting what they did to you, they don’t really regret the fact that they hurt you. No, they regret the fact that they lost you. That is the difference and it all trickles down to taking ownership of one’s actions. Genuine regret is this aspect of you looking at what you did to someone so that you can have some sort of compassion or some sort of empathy towards them or look at the behaviors you are displaying then probably change apologize. But for them, it’s all about them; it’s not about the other person. That’s the difference between their sort of regret. So they regret but not really change, but they regret because of the things they are losing rather than a sincere desire to change or apologize for their behavior.

Note from the Author

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References

1. https://blog.melanietoniaevans.com/do-narcissists-ever-regret-their-behaviour/#:~:text=A%20narcissist%20will%20not%20genuinely,compassion%20or%20love%20for%20others.