Invisible scars : Understanding and addressing the health consequences of narcissistic abuse
Väisänen, Julia (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025092124915
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025092124915
Tiivistelmä
Psychological violence, known as narcissistic abuse, produces major physical, emotional, and social consequences that persist for extended periods in victims. The healthcare environment fails to properly identify this condition, which causes victims to receive delayed care and experience extended suffering. Nurses need to recognize the warning signs of narcissistic abuse because this knowledge enables them to provide timely support and protect patients from additional harm.
The main objective of this research was to identify how nurses can detect narcissistic abuse when caring for patients. The research aimed to establish evidence-based information that would assist nurses in detecting this type of abuse and develop suitable responses for clinical practice.
The thesis used a qualitative literature review as its methodological approach. The research included ten peer-reviewed articles from CINAHL, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases, which were published between 2015 and 2025 using specified keywords. The inductive content analysis was conducted by extracting direct quotes from articles, which were then grouped into subcategories before synthesizing them into main categories.
The study showed that nurses need to detect both obvious and hidden behavioral indicators from abusers while understanding victim effects and staying alert to environmental factors. The research results demonstrated that active listening combined with complete assessments and continuous professional training leads to better detection abilities.
The findings demonstrate that better nurse education about recognizing narcissistic abuse will lead to earlier patient interventions and improved results. The research findings should be implemented in nursing education and continuing professional development, and clinical protocols to enhance victim support for narcissistic abuse cases.
The main objective of this research was to identify how nurses can detect narcissistic abuse when caring for patients. The research aimed to establish evidence-based information that would assist nurses in detecting this type of abuse and develop suitable responses for clinical practice.
The thesis used a qualitative literature review as its methodological approach. The research included ten peer-reviewed articles from CINAHL, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases, which were published between 2015 and 2025 using specified keywords. The inductive content analysis was conducted by extracting direct quotes from articles, which were then grouped into subcategories before synthesizing them into main categories.
The study showed that nurses need to detect both obvious and hidden behavioral indicators from abusers while understanding victim effects and staying alert to environmental factors. The research results demonstrated that active listening combined with complete assessments and continuous professional training leads to better detection abilities.
The findings demonstrate that better nurse education about recognizing narcissistic abuse will lead to earlier patient interventions and improved results. The research findings should be implemented in nursing education and continuing professional development, and clinical protocols to enhance victim support for narcissistic abuse cases.