The difference between conceited and the disorder...?

Question

What is the difference between conceited and the disorder narcissistic personality?

Answer 1

A person who truly has a Narcissistic Personality Disorder will have five or more of the following traits:

-Grandiose sense of self importance, exaggerates their talents/achievements. They tend to expect recognition as being superior without commensurate achievement to back it up.
-Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, etc.
-Belief that they are special or unique and can only be understood by or should associate with other special and highly important people.
-Requires excessive admiration.
-Has a sense of entitlement.
-Is exploitative in interpersonal relationships
-Lacks empathy, unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings of others.
-Envious of others
-Arrogant, haughty behavior or attitude

That's the gist of it, but you can get much more detail from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is the definitive source for this kind of information.

Answer 2

Narcissistic Personality Disorder has to be diagnosed by a psychiatrist or other appropriate mental health professional, and the individual would have to fit specific criteria that are listed in the DSM-IV.

I can't remember all of the criteria, but some are a sense of entitlement, taking advantage of others, shallow range of emotions, belief that one must always have the best of everything (the best doctor, the best car, etc.), a condescending attitude towards others who don't agree with them, feeling uncomfortable in situations where he or she can't be the center of attention, belief that one is "special" or better than others even if one doesn't have any specific accomplishments, a sense of surprise when other people don't appear to recognize how "unique" they are, etc. There should also be sufficient evidence that the individual's behavior is causing significant problems with his or or daily routine; work, school, family life, and so on.

Being conceited in the usual sense might qualify someone as having "Narcissistic Personality Traits" but not necessarily the full disorder.

I work in mental health and it's part of my job to read lots of psychological and psychiatric reports to see if people qualify for certain services; so I'm required to understand the diagnostic criteria as much as possible.

You could enter "DSM-IV Narcissistic Personality Disorder" on any search engine and you could probably find the exact list of criteria.

Answer 3

One is a characteristic a person can change. The other is a mental behavior that one has no control over.