Narcissistic supply refers to the attention, admiration, or emotional responses that a narcissist seeks from others to validate and maintain their false image and inflated sense of self-worth.
Some common sources of narcissistic supply include:
Praise and compliments, attention (either positive or negative),
Fame or recognition
Power
Success
Envy
Pity or sympathy from others
Narcissists may present themselves as exceptional individuals (as in the more overt expression of narcissism), or as eternal victims (as in covert narcissists, aka vulnerable narcissists.) When deprived of narcissistic supply, narcissists may lash out with narcissistic rage, expressed either as outward aggression or as passive aggressive behaviors such as withholding attention and affection.
Because narcissists are unable to fulfill themselves from within, they rely on external sources to fill the gaping hole in their soul. Narcissistic supply is their lifeblood, their drug of choice. They are dependent upon it, as without it their ego would collapse upon itself and their deep-seated shame would come bubbling to the surface.
Unfortunately, for a narcissist enough is never enough. The narcissist’s mantra is, “More, more, more…” No amount of external validation will ever satisfy them, thus these ever-hungry emotional vampires are forever on the hunt for fresh supply.
Remembers, they’re called “emotional vampires” for a reason. Consider yourself warned, hopefully before you’re devoured and discarded by an narcissist who “vants to suck your blood.”