What can I learn from Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

Is it possible to achieve an improvement in emotional well-being by looking at the narcissist's behavior? Is there something I should learn about pathological narcissism to improve in my own life?

In this article we will see what are the main characteristics of this psychological alteration and what lessons we can extract from it.

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What is Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder are characterized by having a clear feeling of grandeur, the characteristic of believing oneself superior to others, as well as presenting a need for admiration and attention from others, along with a lack of empathy.

These traits may therefore be present in "normal" subjects, but not everyone with narcissistic characteristics will present with this disorder. It will be necessary to take into account the presence or absence of functional alterations, discomfort, inflexibility and stability of behavior.

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic Manual of the Association of American Psychologists (DSM 5) classifies personality disorders into 4 groups. Narcissistic personality disorder (Narcissistic PD) is found within group B, along with borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder and personality disorder histrionic. This group is characterized by presenting emotional, dramatic and unstable features.

Specifically, narcissistic PD occurs in people with feeling of grandeur in both image and behavior, need for admiration and lack of empathy.

On the other hand, the international classification of diseases (ICD 10) belonging to the WHO does not classify PD narcissistic along with specific personality disorders but within other specific disorders of personality.

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Diagnostic criteria for narcissistic disorder

The narcissistic PD appears for the first time classified within the DSM-III, although previously the term narcissistic had already been used within the psychoanalyst current.

DSM 5 describes it as a dominant pattern of greatness, a need for admiration, and a lack of empathy, which, like other personality disorders, begins early in life adult and occurring in different contexts and affecting moderately or severely the functionality of the individual's personality. A defining characteristic of personality disorders is the inflexibility and stability of their personality over time, presenting few variations.

To be diagnosed with narcissistic PD, five or more of the following diagnostic criteria must be met: shows a feeling of greatness and arrogance; he is absorbed by fantasies of success, power, brilliance…; believes that it is "special" and unique and can only relate to people who are also; he excessively needs to be admired; presents a feeling of privilege, believes that you have to be treated favorably and automatically meet your expectations; he is exploitative, he takes advantage of others; lacks empathy; he envies others and thinks they envy him; is arrogant.

The feeling and belief of greatness, of being the best, of being special, it can lead to frustration and disappointment in the long run, since these people do not see these characteristics reaffirmed. This can lead to depressed mood, hypomanic mood, or even major depressive disorder.

In addition, in narcissistic disorder, relationships with others are altered, since the people who develop this alteration do not show interest in others, they only want them to reaffirm their greatness and increase their self-esteem, presenting an exploitative behavior, taking advantage of others to fulfill their own purposes. In the same way, in the workplace they can also have alterations since to avoid possible frustration they avoid situations of comparison or competition.

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Epidemiology and course of the disorder

Epidemiology refers to the prevalence, percentage of individuals with the disorder in society. In reference to narcissistic disorder, DSM 5 points to a prevalence between 0 to 6.2% of the population, occurring to a greater extent in men compared to women, with a percentage of between 50 and 75% of cases.

As we pointed out previously, narcissistic traits can also occur in a normal population, being a typical characteristic in adolescents. Specifically we will see that PD have more difficulty adapting, showing physical and occupational limitations related to aging from the beginning.

In the classification of the severity of personality disorders, narcissistic PD is found within those of mild severity, together with histrionic personality disorder, antisocial and dependent.

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Alternative DSM 5 model

The DSM 5 has presented in section III a new diagnostic classification of personality disorders, giving more importance to the functionality of the individual in everyday life and introducing a more dimensional measure, ranking personality scores on a continuum, moderate or higher maladjustment.

In the specific case of narcissistic PD, it presents maladaptive traits in the antagonistic domain, related to the feeling of self-importance, expectation of special treatment, and cruel antipathy, among others. To meet diagnostic criteria, you have to present pathological features of grandiosity and attention seeking, wanting to be the center of attention and be admired.

Its relationship with the 5 personality factors

Different authors have tried to associate or relate personality disorders with typical personality traits or factors present in the general population. In relation to narcissistic PD, people who develop it are more likely to have low kindness, medium-high responsibility and low self-reported neuroticism; this means that they report being little anxious.

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What can we learn from narcissistic personality disorder?

Now that we have seen roughly what narcissistic personality disorder is, touch wonder if it is possible to learn from him key ideas that help maintain a good level of well-being emotional. Let's look at several key ideas in this regard.

1. Self-esteem problems are not only due to lack of this

As we see, having a problem related to self-esteem does not always imply believing less than who you really are. At times, an overly inflated self-esteem can have the paradoxical effect that it can be easily "pricked", quickly leading to many insecurities; and in other cases, it can expose the person to situations that are too risky or dangerous.

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2. Self-esteem is a psychosocial phenomenon

On the other hand, narcissistic personality disorder also shows that self-esteem is not a “private” psychological element and restricted to what happens inside the person's brain. It is made up of many social dynamics, which constantly influence and shape it.

3. Self-concept can easily lead to biased perceptions

Another lesson that we can extract from narcissistic personality disorder is that misalignments in the concept of "I", or self-concept, can lead to significant alterations in our behavior and in all aspects of life. Being wrong about other concepts does not have to be reflected in our actions constantly, but the idea of ​​"I" is at the center of almost everything we do and say.