Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

Question

Is there someone in your life with this disorder? If so, how do you deal with their behavior?

Answer 1

It is unusual for people suffering from narcissism to seek treatment for their problems, or even to consider that they might have a problem. The fears that narcissistic people have of being inadequate make it very difficult for them to imagine having “something wrong” with them, and they certainly would not feel safe in acknowledging these fears to another person. They are typically very threatened by the notion of entering psychotherapy, since they fear the result would be that the therapist would be critical and rejecting towards them. Essentially, they imagine that the therapist would relate to them as their parents did. They are very likely to be disdainful and disparaging in response to the notion of psychotherapy. Unfortunately, narcissism is a relatively stable condition and tends to remain relatively unchanged over one’s lifetime. Current treatments for psychological disorders have little help to offer narcissistic people.

They feel that they require and deserve admiration and adulation (DSM III-R, 1987). This overblown sense of entitlement requires constant replenishment of libidinal supplies. In a relationship, a male narcissist wants to be the center of a woman's life and feels that she should be subordinate to him in all ways. He may devalue the partner because she does not live up to his wishes. When frustrated, he withdraws his love and resorts to rage and projection. He provides very little emotional satisfaction for his partner, yet he demands her perfect responsiveness.



Narcissists deny the real self and love their image, persona, perfect false self. They need to cover up the pain of having been bent and molded into certain images in order to make parents happy. This denial creates an insensitivity to one's own needs and the needs of others. Narcissists deny depression, social and environmental traumas. Yet, they are very vulnerable, like a turtle who fears injury to its soft spots, but denies it. Narcissists identify less with feelings and more with logic and success. At the same time, there may be an unacknowledged envy of those people who possess emotional accessibility and a capacity for empathy.



The male narcissist may suffer from emotional immaturity while being over-responsible in performance task areas. He is immune and numb to his own pain and the pain of others. Feeling only gets in the way of his pursuit of power, status and achievement. He is invested in image and ambition and not in the real self. Nothing seems to bother him except when he senses potential verbal injury to his weakened inner self. Schedules are unrealistic and an exhaustive work regimen becomes a drug-like, addictive high for him.



For the male narcissist, the ego is bigger than the self. He may erroneously believe he is the apple of his mother's eye; i.e., "She looks to me to fulfill her lost dreams and ambitions. I'm more important to my mother than my father is". Father is seen as being a failure - inadequate, unavailable, inaccessible and critical. On top of this, the father may actually alienate the child with his demands and lack of affectional bonding. Narcissistic disorder suggests the lack of emotional parental availability for adequate bonding.



Narcissists have difficulty activating the real feeling self. Unable to sustain and maintain emotion and intimacy, they project their inadequacies onto others through rage and demands for perfect performance. Due to a lack of parental connectedness from early childhood, the narcissist is left to struggle and seek perfect connectedness with others. Close, intimate relationships are limited and few in number, while certain relationships are antagonistic due to negative parental introjects. Hence, the narcissist feels alone and unaffiliated.



Narcissists ultimately blame their partners for problems in a relationship. At the beginning, these couples bask in their mutual glow but it does not last. Eventually, disappointment sets in. Narcissists rarely take action for change while continuing to tolerate that about which they complain. The narcissist, as well as the borderline, engages in betrayal behaviors which serve to destabilize and destroy relationships while threatening the critical emotion of trust that is so vital for maintaining healthy relation-ship bonds. Thus, narcissist and borderline people share a trust killing propensity.



Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a debilitating and destructive disorder. However, if a person is willing, changes can be made through therapy. If you or someone you know displays more than half of these behavioral characteristics, please seek qualified professional help.

I haven't met anyone who has this disorder...but I hope this would help you...

Answer 2

Narcissistic personality disorder is a serious emotional disturbance characterized by a grandiose, or extremely exaggerated, sense of self-importance. Individuals with this disorder lack empathy for other people but need constant admiration from them.

Narcissistic personality disorder is one of several types of personality disorders, all of which reflect an inability in the affected person to accept the demands and limitations of the world. These disorders may regularly interfere with a person's behavior and interactions with family, friends or co-workers. Among the other personality disorders are paranoid personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Although people with narcissistic personality disorder have an exaggerated image of their own importance, they have vulnerable self-esteems and often don't like themselves. Therefore, they seek attention that confirms their grandiosity. When feedback doesn't validate their exaggerated image, they tend to lash out or withdraw.

Narcissistic personality disorder, which is less common than other personality disorders, is estimated to affect less than 1 percent of the general population. Some studies indicate that it's more common among men. The primary treatment is psychotherapy.

Treatment for narcissistic personality disorder is generally a difficult, long-term process. The therapist needs time to diagnose the disorder, to understand how it is manifested and to address the narcissistic behaviors. Individual psychotherapy is the most common treatment approach, but some therapists may also integrate group and family therapy.

People with narcissistic personality disorder may be defensive about the process because they were compelled or encouraged to seek therapy by an employer or family member. They may have sought treatment to address a related problem, such as depression or a job crisis, but are unwilling to address the underlying disorder identified by the therapist.

Most people with narcissistic personality disorder are not amenable to the therapist-client relationship or to therapists' questions or comments. They're likely to engage with the therapist in their normal manner of portraying a grandiose image and seeking affirmation. When the therapist questions the reality of that self-image or problems with particular behaviors, the individual may react defensively, devalue the skill of the therapist or discontinue treatment.

The short-term goal of psychotherapy is to address symptoms, such as depression or shame, that result from attacks on self-esteem. The long-term goal is to reshape the personality to some degree, so that the person can change thinking that distorts self-image, construct a realistic self-image, regulate a stable self-esteem and engage empathetically with others.

Medication use is limited, but a doctor may recommend drugs to treat related symptoms, such as depression or anxiety.

Answer 3

I have never known a person like this.
Only a scientist would put such lables on human behaviors.

Didn't Narcissus kill his mother and marry his father or something like that ???

Well maybe just sometimes a rocket or a telescope is only a rocket or a telescope.

My...what A big Cigar you have.
Only Psychologists and Psychiatrists should ever think about such things and never the general public.

Those people (pseudo science terorists)deserve a disturbed life for robbing life and liberties without using proper due process (criminalk justice system) first.
.

Answer 4

wow, you sure have a good one, i think half the young girls on here have it, they want you to look at their pictures and judge them or even funnier their avatars, which ofcourse look nothing like them, silly isnt it.

Answer 5

Tell them to go stare into a pond.(entertainment)

Answer 6

i am sorry for you ,but i feel more sorry for the people who can't give a good answer on a serious subject

Answer 7

screw with them and take them to a funhouse full of mirrors

Answer 8

ANGRY VIRGIN -I just read your answer in food and drink catergory ---- enough said?