Many people think of or refer to the term narcissism or narcissist to describe someone who seems excessively vain or full of themselves.
But in psychological terms, narcissism doesn't mean self-love, rather people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) are in love with an idealized, grandiose image of themselves.
And they're in love with this inflated self-image precisely because it allows them to avoid deep feelings of insecurity.
However, propping up their delusions of grandeur takes a lot of work, and that's where the dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors come in.
Narcissistic personality disorder involves a pattern of self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, a lack of empathy and consideration for others, and an excessive need for admiration.
Some describe people with NPD as cocky, manipulative, selfish, condescending, and demanding.
This way of thinking and behaving surfaces in every area of the narcissist's life: from work and friendships to family and love relationships.
People with narcissistic personality disorder are highly resistant to changing their behavior, even when it's causing them problems.
They tend to turn the blame on others.
Moreover, they are susceptible and react badly to even the slightest criticisms, disagreements, or perceived slights, which they view as personal attacks.
A narcissistic personality disorder is found more commonly in men.
The cause is unknown but likely involves genetic and environmental factors.
For the people in the narcissist's life, it's often easier to go along with their demands to avoid the coldness and rages.
However, by understanding more about narcissistic personality disorder, you can spot the narcissists in your life, protect yourself from their power plays, and establish healthier boundaries.
Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder and the severity of symptoms vary. People with the disorder can:
- Have an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
- Have a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration.
- Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it.
- Exaggerate achievements and talents.
- Fantasize about success, power, brilliance, beauty, or the perfect mate.
- Believe they are superior and can only associate with equally remarkable people.
- Monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior.
- Expect special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations.
- Take advantage of others to get what they want.
- Have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others.
- Be envious of others and believe others envy them.
- Behave arrogantly or haughtily, coming across as arrogant, boastful, and pretentious Insist on having the best of everything — for instance, the best car or office.
At the same time, people with narcissistic personality disorder have trouble handling anything they perceive as criticism, and they can:
- Become impatient or angry when they don't receive special treatment.
- Have significant interpersonal problems and quickly feel slighted. React with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make themselves appear superior.
- Have difficulty regulating emotions and behavior.
- Experience significant problems dealing with stress and adapting to change.
- Feel depressed and moody because they fall short of perfection.
- Have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, vulnerability, and humiliation.
Causes
It's not known what causes narcissistic personality disorder.
As with personality development and other mental health disorders, the cause of narcissistic personality disorder is likely complex.
A narcissistic personality disorder may be linked to the following:
- Environment ― mismatches in parent-child relationships with either excessive adoration or excessive criticism that is poorly attuned to the child's experience.
- Genetics ― inherited characteristics.
- Neurobiology — the connection between the brain, behavior, and thinking.
Risk factors
A narcissistic personality disorder affects more males than females. It often begins in teens or early adulthood.
Keep in mind that although some children may show traits of narcissism, this may be typical of their age and doesn't mean they'll go on to develop a narcissistic personality disorder.
Although the cause of narcissistic personality disorder isn't known, some researchers think that parenting styles that are overprotective or neglectful in biologically vulnerable children may have an impact.
Genetics and neurobiology also may play a role in developing a narcissistic personality disorder.
Complications
Complications of narcissistic personality disorder, and other conditions that can occur along with it, can include:- Relationship difficulties
- Problems at work or school
- Depression and anxiety
- Physical health problems
- Drug or alcohol misuse
- Suicidal thoughts or behavior
Narcissistic Personality Inventory
The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) was developed by Raskin, Robert N., and Calvin S. Hall. "A Narcissistic Personality Inventory."
It is based on the definition of narcissistic personality disorder found in the DSM-III but is not a diagnostic tool for NPD.
Instead, it measures subclinical or regular expressions of narcissism.
So, even someone who gets the highest possible score on the NPI does not necessarily have NPD.
There are several versions of the NPI test. In psychological research on narcissism and personality disorder, most researchers prefer the NPI-40 version.
The NPI-16 is a shortened form of the NPI-40 for measuring subclinical narcissism.
The NPI-16 has been shown to have significant discriminant, internal and predictive validity.
The NPI-13 is another shortened version of the 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory used to assess grandiose narcissism.
The NPI-13 is based on the three-factor structure of the NPI-40:
- Leadership/Authority (LA)
- Grandiose Exhibitionism (GE)
- Entitlement/Exploitativeness (EE)
Items were selected from the NPI-40 with the highest factor loadings on the three factors.
Expert ratings, item-response theory (IRT) analyses, and exploratory factor analyses were all employed to select the final 13-item measure, with 4 Leadership/Authority items, 5 Grandiose Exhibitionism items, and 4 Entitlement/Exploitativeness items.
Analyses revealed that the NPI-13 has good convergent and discriminant validity and adequate overall reliability.
It may also be favored over the NPI-16 because it allows for the extraction of three subscales, consistent with the use of its parent measure.
Citation
Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 890–902.
Raskin, Robert N., and Calvin S. Hall. (1979). “A Narcissistic Personality Inventory.” Psychological Reports 45.2 (1979): 590-590.