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Lots of folks talk about toxic individuals, but I don't think I've ever really seen anyone talk about what decontamination might look like. Or even how they got that way.
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There is a lot of work on that available in psychology, but since psychology has earned some low regard on that topic on account of its history... As for how they got that way, it's too broad a question until you start looking at particular forms of "toxic".
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One of my fav. interesting tidbits is that there's quite a bit of evidence that one of the risk factors is high emotional sensitivity in kids. Put that through either trauma or unmerited special treatment, and kids frequently grow up into narcissists.
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So a lot of the people complaining that "sensitive" people aren't given enough understanding, that they are "different", "empaths" or whatnot? High trait narcissism, or even NPD. Borderline tendencies also cluster around those traits.
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Which is not to say that they deserve their harsh childhoods or are responsible for how they came to be like that. But I find the prevailing narrative in some leftier circles - that we simply need to be more open and understanding - a bit naïve.
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Interesting to me, as well, the prevailing notions that these conditions or traits are inimical and can't be improved in any way... also seems to be wrong. NPD and BPD sufferer-perpetrators can heal, at minimum into mild sufferers without strong externalising tendencies.
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Yeah, I can definitely agree with all you've said. But I'm mostly just yelling into the hellsite void. It's just a constant frustration with folks who treat everything outside of their experience as a two dimensional caricature.
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So you're referring to the arbitrary labelling of "toxic" and accompanying dehumanising cackling? Yeah, that gets especially sad when we consider how many blind spots people have. How many abusers occupy the liminal spaces between "they're just like that" and "toxic <smth>"?
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