Narcissistic Person

A Narcissistic Person is a self-centered person who is often in a state of narcissism.

• Context:
  • They can (typically) have an above average Narcissistic Personality Inventory Questionnaire test score.
  • They can (typically) be an Unempathetic Person (e.g. if you lose interest in group conversations when they're no longer about you, or if you feel completely indifferent when people talk to you about their emotions and issues they're struggling with).
  • They can (typically) feel a Vanity Emotion.
  • They can (typically) feel an Envy Emotion (e.g. of others receiving attention).
  • They can (typically) have an Insecure Sense of Self.
  • They can (often) be an Extraverted Person.
  • They can suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
  • They can be an Arrogant Person.
  • They can be a Controlling Person.
  • They can be a Vengeful Person.
  • They can try to undo Shame and Humiliation by Shaming and Humiliating others.
  • They can harbor grandiose fantasies of fame and fortune (megalomania).
  • They can be a Grand Narcissist (who is an exhibitionist, attention-seeking, inflated demands of entitlement and denial of weaknesses.)
  • …
• Example(s):
  • a Grand Narcissit, such as Adolf Hitler.
  • a Narcissitic Machiavellian Psychopath: such as: Adolf Hitler.
  • Napoleon Bonaparte.
  • Steve Jobs.
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • an Empathetic Person.
  • a Humble Person.
  • a Loving Person.
• See: Egosyntonic, Jealousy, Insults, Vulnerability, Shame, Flattery, Greedy Person.

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References

2017

• https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/opinion/an-eminent-psychiatrist-demurs-on-trumps-mental-state.html
  • QUOTE: … Mr. Trump doesn’t meet them. He may be a world-class narcissist, but this doesn’t make him mentally ill, because he does not suffer from the distress and impairment required to diagnose mental disorder.
    Mr. Trump causes severe distress rather than experiencing it and has been richly rewarded, rather than punished, for his grandiosity, self-absorption and lack of empathy. It is a stigmatizing insult to the mentally ill (who are mostly well behaved and well meaning) to be lumped with Mr. Trump (who is neither).
    Bad behavior is rarely a sign of mental illness, and the mentally ill behave badly only rarely. Psychiatric name-calling is a misguided way of countering Mr. Trump’s attack on democracy. He can, and should, be appropriately denounced for his ignorance, incompetence, impulsivity and pursuit of dictatorial powers. ...

2014

• (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/narcissism#Traits_and_signs Retrieved:2014-1-15.
  • A 2012 popular book on power-hungry narcissists suggests that narcissists typically display most, and sometimes all, of the following traits:
    • An obvious self-focus in interpersonal exchanges
    • Problems in sustaining satisfying relationships
    • A lack of psychological awareness (see insight in psychology and psychiatry, egosyntonic)
    • Difficulty with empathy.
    • Problems distinguishing the self from others (see narcissism and boundaries)
    • Hypersensitivity to any insults or imagined insults (see criticism and narcissists, narcissistic rage and narcissistic injury)
    • Vulnerability to shame rather than guilt.
    • Haughty body language.
    • Flattery towards people who admire and affirm them (narcissistic supply)
    • Detesting those who do not admire them (narcissistic abuse)
    • Using other people without considering the cost of doing so
    • Pretending to be more important than they really are
    • Bragging (subtly but persistently) and exaggerating their achievements
    • Claiming to be an "expert" at many things
    • Inability to view the world from the perspective of other people
    • Denial of remorse and gratitude
  • Hotchkiss' seven deadly sins of narcissism: Hotchkiss identified what she called the seven deadly sins of narcissism:

    # Shamelessness: Shame is the feeling that lurks beneath all unhealthy narcissism, and the inability to process shame in healthy ways.

    # Magical thinking: Narcissists see themselves as perfect, using distortion and illusion known as magical thinking. They also use projection to dump shame onto others.

    # Arrogance: A narcissist who is feeling deflated may reinflate by diminishing, debasing, or degrading somebody else.

    # Envy: A narcissist may secure a sense of superiority in the face of another person's ability by using contempt to minimize the other person.

    # Entitlement: Narcissists hold unreasonable expectations of particularly favorable treatment and automatic compliance because they consider themselves special. Failure to comply is considered an attack on their superiority, and the perpetrator is considered an "awkward" or "difficult" person. Defiance of their will is a narcissistic injury that can trigger narcissistic rage.

    # Exploitation: Can take many forms but always involves the exploitation of others without regard for their feelings or interests. Often the other is in a subservient position where resistance would be difficult or even impossible. Sometimes the subservience is not so much real as assumed.

    # Bad boundaries: Narcissists do not recognize that they have boundaries and that others are separate and are not extensions of themselves. Others either exist to meet their needs or may as well not exist at all. Those who provide narcissistic supply to the narcissist are treated as if they are part of the narcissist and are expected to live up to those expectations. In the mind of a narcissist there is no boundary between self and other.

2012

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001930/
  • Narcissistic personality disorder is a condition in which people have an excessive sense of self-importance, an extreme preoccupation with themselves, and lack of empathy for others.

    ...

  • A person with narcissistic personality disorder may:
    • React to criticism with rage, shame, or humiliation
    • Take advantage of other people to achieve his or her own goals
    • Have excessive feelings of self-importance.
    • Exaggerate achievements and talents
    • Be preoccupied with fantasies of success, power, beauty, intelligence, or ideal love
    • Have unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment
    • Need constant attention and admiration
    • Disregard the feelings of others, and have little ability to feel empathy
    • Have obsessive self-interest.
    • Pursue mainly selfish goals.
  • Signs and tests
    • Narcissistic personality disorder is diagnosed based on a psychological evaluation that assesses the history and severity of the symptoms.

2002

• (Glad, 2002) ⇒ Betty Glad. (2002). “Why Tyrants go Too Far: Malignant narcissism and absolute power." Political Psychology, 23(1).
  • ABSTRACT: This article explores the puzzling behavior of tyrants who undermine themselves once in power. Therealpolitik perspective and a variety of psychological frameworks are used to try to resolve this puzzle in the cases of several ancient and three contemporary tyrants. Although all the frameworks used have explanatory power, the one that most closely fits the tyrants studied here is that of the narcissist with severe superego deficiencies. An individual with such psychological characteristics may have some advantages in rising to power, and his behavior may be an effective response to some real-life factors, but once he has consolidated his position his reality-testing capacities diminish. Fantasies held in check when his power is limited are apt to become his guides to action. As a consequence, his behavior becomes more erratic, he runs into difficulties in meeting his goals, and his paranoid defenses become more exaggerated. The finale of a tyrant’s career depends on the particulars of his political and social situation.

1997

• (Geberth & Turco, 1997) ⇒ Vernon J. Geberth, and Ronald N. Turco. (1997). “Antisocial Personality Disorder, Sexual Sadism, Malignant Narcissism, and Serial Murder.” In: Journal of Forensic Sciences, 42(1).
  • ABSTRACT: This paper examines the research on serial murder and its relationship to antisocial personality disorder and sexual sadism. The concept of malignant narcissism is also discussed. Case studies of serial killers are examined regarding the nature of sexual violation and crime scene behavior.

1989

• (Kernberg, 1989) ⇒ Otto F. Kernberg. (1989). “The Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the Differential Diagnosis of Antisocial Behavior." Psychiatric Clinics of North America.
  • QUOTE: Describes a dimension of antisocial behavior that links the narcissistic personality disorder with the antisocial personality disorder (APD), and with the syndrome of malignant narcissism as intermediate between the two. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III — Revised (DSM-III — R) description of the APD is critiqued, and salient contributions to the concept of the APD derived from descriptive, sociological, and psychoanalytic viewpoints are reviewed. A classification and differential diagnosis of personality disorders are provided in which antisocial features are prominent. Prognostic and therapeutic considerations regarding the treatment of antisocial behavior are briefly summarized.

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