Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Background
Narcissism can be defined as “ a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultra confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that 's vulnerable to the slightest criticism” (Narcissistic personality disorder, n.d.). With this disorder people generally are unhappy and disappointed when they are not privileged to special favors or given admiration they believe they deserve. With narcissistic personality disorder problems in many areas of life can arise such as work, school, financial affairs, and relationships.
Signs and Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) are based on nine criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual fifth edition. The criteria includes “a grandiose sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love, believes that he or she is “special and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with , other special or high-status people”, requires excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, is interpersonally exploitative, lacks empathy, is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her, shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitude” (Narcissistic personality disorder, n.d.). When looking for signs and symptoms for this disorder, only five of the nine
The personality of a person is what ultimately defines who they are. This is what 99% of us look for in a person actually knowing who they really are. A person may be fun, loving, caring, and charismatic and a million other traits, but there is none like being narcissistic. A narcissistic person is one who truly believes that the world revolves around them and them only. This is someone who has an excessive or erotic interest in themselves, he/she craves constant admiration and never want to recognize differences with external objects. This type of obsessive behavior is characterized as Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). This is definitely something that can have an adverse effect on children and their mental health. Parents suffering from narcissistic personality disorder are not very capable of raising and providing a quality, solid foundation for their children while maintaining and ensuring the preservation of their child’s mentality.
As a basic rule of thumb of common sense, patients with symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder tend to have shorter life expectancy as compared to normal people. From a logical point of view, this is very true, as the narcissistic mental condition does only harm to the body and mental process. Seriously speaking, there is no added benefit to suffer from such mental disability. From the research and medical point of view, it is indeed proven that patients with this disability do end up with shorter life expectancy. Why is this so?
Although someone diagnosed with NPD may seem to have this overconfidence, those individuals have low self-esteems and negative criticism are not their cup of tea. What society tends to call those with NPD are cocky, arrogant, conceited, or “big-headed.” NPD individuals look down on others and try to belittle others. Individuals with NPD tend to take over in the presence of conversations, they have a sense of entitlement, and if those with NPD does not get their way or special treatment, they will become angry. Further researched proved that narcissism have a
Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people
Have you ever been around someone who seems arrogant? It may not be just arrogance, that individual may have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder or NPD. Narcissus, a Greek mythological character, fell in love with his reflection in the water and could never pull himself away, so he ended up dying right beside the water after a while (Marcovitz 1). Narcissism became known as being self-centered and was developed after this Greek myth (Marcovitz 1). This disorder affects less than 1% of the American population and it occurs more in men than women (Thomas 1). Later on in life most people with NPD will experience severe symptoms around the ages of forty or fifty years old (Psych 1). Many people who have this disorder either refuse to get help
Narcissism personality disorder according to DSM-V is (and now also in Section II of DSM-5) describe “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy . . .,” indicated by five or more of the following: (a) a grandiose sense of self-importance; (b) preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love; (c) beliefs of being special and unique; (d) requirements of excessive admiration; (e) a sense of entitlement; (f) interpersonal exploitativeness; (g) lack of empathy; (h) envy of others; and (i) arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes. Narcissism has been around or studied for thirty years. Rosenfeld thought that that his client had invented an alter ego at first. In the article what part do narcissism play in the narcissistic disorder? It talk about narcissistic disorder arise when an ego-destructive super ego has arisen in the course of development. The article talks about that trauma as a child or infant may also play a big part of narcissism. A large part of narcissistic disorder comes from a wide range of symptoms like self-enhancing and self-serving incentives. (Elsa Ronningstam) described a 21 none year old client that she treated, his parents brought him in to see her and they described him as selfish, inconsiderate, demanding, and demeaning, with threatening and verbally aggressive behavior, and involved in poly substance abuse (pp 434-438). Bob his self-admitted that some
We all love ourselves. That seems to be such a true statement that we do not bother to look it as a possible disorder. A person who loves himself is one thing but one who loves his reflection is another. A healthy person will love himself and his accomplishments. That person is all around happy and satisfied with himself. On the other hand one who is in love with his reflection is cause for narcissism. One who depends on the existence of a reflection to produce the emotion of self-love. It also makes it impossible for the person to tell himself what is reality or what is fantasy. The narcissist does possess the desire to love and to be loved. If he cannot love himself, he has love his reflection. Narcissist are five (or more) of the
Everyone is born with a natural sense of pride and self-importance. According to Sanderson (2015), pride can be defined as, “A pleasant, sometimes exhilarating, emotion that results from a positive self-evaluation” (p. 35). Judging by that definition, pride seems as though it is a positive emotion that helps to build confidence and self-worth. However, pride can also be a very dangerous feeling that could possibly lead to a very unfortunate and incurable mental illness, known as Narcissistic Personality Disorder. This disorder, otherwise known as, NPD, is a personality trait that reflects an inflated and grandiose self-concept (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Basically, someone with this disorder thinks very highly of himself or herself, which typically results in a lack of empathy for others. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the preferred treatment for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) because specific biomedical approaches for this illness do not exist, and leaving it untreated could lead to other psychological problems for the individual, such as, depression, antisocial personality disorder, and drug/alcohol abuse.
The diagnosis is based on the many symptoms of having a Narcissistic personality disorder such as feeling self-importance which is one of the main symptoms. The person normally has difficulty maintain an unhealthy relationship. They will take advantage of anyone just to get their own needs. Rage takes place if the person feels criticized. They will have no sympathy for anyone’s feelings but their selves. They are very good at making others feel guilty like with narcissistic parents they tend to say “I gave my life up for you and this is how you treat me” to their
Someone with narcissistic personality disorder would show an exaggerated sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with being admired, and a lack of empathy for the feelings of others (Hooley, p.349). Many studies support the fact that narcissism has two sub types: grandiose and vulnerable narcissism (cain et al.,2008; Ronningstam, 2005, 2012). The grandiose sub-type is manifested by traits related to grandiosity, aggression, and dominance. They usually overestimate their abilities and accomplishments and underestimate the abilities and accomplishments of others. They feel entitled, behave in stereotypical ways, and often think they can only be understood by those of
Just as children go through their egocentric phase, those that have NPD according the article “Narcissism and Well-Being: A Longitudinal Perspective” by Zuckerman & O 'Loughlin, (2009) states how they become “locked into that stage and never grows out of it”. When a child is allowed to feel overly important, that child will more than likely maintain their infantile mentality of “power [and] control”, thus “hindering Narcissistic characteristics. These children learn to scan and seek out those who can fulfill their narcissistic supply” that demands attention, recognition, and fulfillment.
Narcissistic personality disorder has nine specific symptoms that are stated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). This is the contents of this list: an immense sense of pomposity, obsessed with dreams of unlimited success, feels as though they are “special”/rare, needs constant adoration, assumes they are entitled, takes advantage of others, lacks in understanding people 's
So far, there has been no medical breakthrough and advancements in creating an effective drug or medication to treat the narcissistic personality disorder symptoms. The bad news is that the number of people suffering from this mental condition is in fact increasing throughout the world. So, one may wonder what is the prognosis of narcissistic personality disorder, especially when there is no actual cure? The outlook for the treatment of this mental condition is indeed bleak and uncertain.
The symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder are having a large sense of self-importance, having a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love, lacking empathy, having a very strong sense of entitlement, taking advantage of others to achieve what he or she wants, requiring excessive admiration, and having a strong sense of entitlement. People with this disorder are in denial about reality and that can be considered very dangerous. There are five different ways to recognize an individual with narcissistic personality disorder and such as, having poor interpersonal boundaries, low self-esteem, reacting to viewpoints or criticism with anger or rage, constantly self-righteous and defensive, and
It is hard and uncommon for someone to be diagnosed with NPD because when someone has narcissistic personality disorder, they may not want to think that anything could be wrong, doing so wouldn't fit with their self-image of power and perfection (American Psychiatric Association; 2013). Some psychologists say narcissism can be diagnosed by asking one question: “are you a Narcissist?” This is because some believe that if a person is narcissistic, then they will have no problem saying so because they are unable to see any flaws in themselves. People who are willing to admit that they are narcissistic are actually more narcissistic then others. Treatment of narcissistic personality disorder typically involves long-term psychotherapy with a therapist