Covert Narcissists Are Like Mosquitoes

One sucks the blood out of you. The other sucks the sanity out of you.

Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.
4 min readAug 5, 2024
mosquito on human skin
Image by FRANCO PATRIZIA from Pixabay

Infuriating.

That’s the best word I can think of to describe mosquitoes.

They wait until you’re not suspecting they’re around… then they land with minimal fanfare. They skillfully puncture your natural defenses and suck life’s very fuel right out of you. They’re always annoying and under the right conditions, they can be downright dangerous.

The same description applies to the covert variety of narcissists.

By far the most stealthy of all the narcissists, coverts can make you feel constantly under attack — just as a swarm of mosquitoes does. They can sap you of life’s vitality. Left unchecked, their actions and habits can be deadly to their victims.

Let us count the ways these two types of parasites resemble each other.

They hide in the shadows

Recently I made the mistake of going for a walk at three in the morning. The mosquitoes came after me! Because it was dark, they had cover. I couldn’t see them coming and swat them.

Covert narcissists similarly take cover. They don’t boldly put themselves front-and-center to be admired by all as do their…

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Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.
Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.

Written by Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.

I write about writing, ideas, creativity, homelessness, intuition, spirituality, life lessons. Ex-college teacher Twitter: @paulryburn

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