Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Description
When people present themselves as very self-absorbed and always look for faults in others instead of themselves, the term “narcissism” quickly comes up. But what is a narcissist?
Again and again there are discussions about whether our society is becoming increasingly narcissistic. Are people only focused on their success and perfect self-presentation? There is no clear answer to this question. Narcissism, however, is a phenomenon that has been preoccupying people for a long time. Already in Greek mythology one finds Narcissus – a youth who falls in love with his own reflection and rejects the love of all others.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: How many are affected?
About 0.4 percent of the population suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Men are diagnosed more often than women. Most sufferers seek treatment for other mental illnesses. Many suffer from depression, other personality disorders, somatoform disorders (physical complaints without organic cause), anxiety, eating disorders or addiction problems.
According to a study by Russ and colleagues (2008), Narcissistic Personality Disorder can be divided into three types:
- grandiose-malignant narcissism
- vulnerable-fragile narcissism
- exhibitionistic narcissism with a high level of functioning
The grandiose-malignant narcissism
Stalin and Hitler are examples of malignant narcissists.
The vulnerable-fragile narcissism
The exhibitionistic narcissism
People with the exhibitionistic type of narcissistic personality disorder – also called “overt narcissism” – publicly flaunt their grandiosity. By doing so, they attract the attention they need.
This type can adapt well in our competitive world and be very successful. His appearance comes across as very self-confident. Towards others, these people behave arrogantly and coolly.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Symptoms
Personality disorder is said to occur when people exhibit a particular pattern of behavior, thinking, and feelings that deviates greatly from the expectations of the sociocultural environment. These inflexible personality traits lead to suffering and impairment in social, occupational, and/or other areas.
The people concerned
- have an exaggerated sense of their own importance
- have fantasies of boundless success, power, beauty or ideal love
- believe they are special and unique and are understood only by special or respected people
- expect excessive admiration from others
- expect others to give them special preferential treatment and automatically respond to their expectations
- exploit others to achieve their own goals
- often feel envy for others or believe others are envious of them
- behave arrogantly and arrogant
However, narcissism symptoms are not always so clear-cut. Some affected persons do not show their arrogance openly, for example. The signs are then only recognizable if one looks very closely.
Low self-esteem
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Causes and Risk Factors.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder results from an interaction of several factors. According to recent twin studies, genes have a greater influence in Narcissistic Personality Disorder than in other personality disorders. However, environmental influences also play an important role.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Environmental Factors
The leading researcher in the field of narcissistic personality disorder, Otto Kernberg, assumes that emotionally cold or latently aggressive parents promote an exaggerated self-expression. Children who receive little recognition cope with this injury to self-worth by focusing on achievements for which they are praised (for example, school performance).
Both parenting styles ultimately represent a neglect of children’s needs. Children need security and love, but also boundaries. For healthy development, they also need to learn how to deal with disappointment, as well as the ability to withdraw themselves and empathize with the feelings of others.
Narcissistic personality disorder: examinations and diagnosis
- Do you feel you are doing great things in your life?
- Do you often have the impression that others do not recognize your greatness?
- Do you find it exhausting to deal with other people’s feelings and interests?
If there is an opportunity, the therapist will also ask close family members how they experience the individual.
Many of those affected perceive the diagnosis of “narcissistic personality disorder” as an attack on their person. Good information about the background of the clinical picture is therefore very important. The diagnosis should not condemn the affected person, but help him to better understand himself and his environment. This understanding is often very relieving for both the affected person and the relatives.
Narcissistic personality disorder: Therapy
Psychotherapeutic treatment
Therefore, in order to improve the relationship with other people, the affected person has to work on his empathy ability and together with the therapist develop new behavioral strategies that improve the interaction with other people.
Relationship with the therapist and realistic expectations
The mental health of people with narcissistic personality disorder is particularly at risk when their excessive demands are not met. Every slight is a threat to their self. Therefore, an important measure in therapy is to question the demands and set goals that are actually achievable.
Narcissistic personality disorder: partnership
For a functioning partnership, it is not only important for the narcissist to seek treatment from a therapist. The partner should also seek professional help to learn more about how to deal properly with a narcissist.
Read more on the topic in the article Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Partnership.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Course and Prognosis
Affected persons who have a sense of achievement and good relationship experiences have a favorable prognosis. The better the self-perception becomes, the easier it is to recognize and work on the narcissistic traits themselves. On the other hand, the prognosis is worse for sufferers who are unable to engage with the therapist because of their arrogance, have many failures in life, and abuse drugs or alcohol.
