Many non professionals are talking about Narcissism today. It has become a popular topic, due to the high ratio of people suffering from this condition. We are now living in societies that promotes self-centeredness, so reinforcement is inevitable. Due to many citizens in society addressing narcissism and leaving out the actual mental disorder and where it stems from, I decided to explain the condition from the diagnostic criteria, research and clinical experience.
Description: Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and lack of empathy that begins to show signs by early adulthood. Narcissists have a grandiose sense of self importance. It is displayed in, overestimating their abilities, inflating their accomplishments, often appearing boastful and pretentious. They rarely contribute to others.
Pre-Occupied Success: They often pre-occupied with unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love. Yes, narcissists can be love addicts, often falling in love at first sight and discarding lovers once the honeymoon faze is over. They may ruminate about long overdue admiration and privilege and often compare themselves to famous or privileged people. They are often haughty. Narcissism is a self-esteem disorder, requiring overcompensation and masking of low self, through conceit and arrogance.
They are often snobbish, disdainful, inauthentic and patronizing. They are very condescending towards others.
Personality: Individuals with narcissism believe they are special, superior or unique and expect others to recognize them as such. They may feel they are too special and should only be associated with people who are high status, unique, perfect or gifted. Narcissists often think their needs are more important than others. Their self-esteem is enhanced or mirrored by the idealized value they assign to those whom they associate. They insist on having the top (Doctor, Lawyer, Friend, Hairdresser, Instructor, etc) or being affiliated with the best situations. They also like to be associated with people whom they view as being more successful and or are admirable, beautiful and popular because in their eyes, they must be too. They often split, by valuing people whose success they admire and devaluing those who disappoint them.
Narcissists have very fragile self-esteem, so they are often pre-occupied with how favorable they are regarded by others. They may even expect their arrival to elicit fanfare or a standing ovation. They often fish for compliments. They are also very entitled people. They desire favoritism and often expect the most from people, while draining others and rarely deserving what they expect from others. They usually treat waiters/ waitresses , housekeepers and city workers poorly, viewing them as “The Help”. They expect to be catered to and doted on. They also may assume they should not have to wait in lines and that their priorities are Important enough to inconvenience others.
Empathy: Narcissists lack empathy and their lack of empathy often results in exploitation and insensitivity of others. They expect their needs to be met, at the expense of others and no matter how costly it is to others. They are not cognizant of how overwhelming, draining nor how much they overwork people. They have difficulties understanding the desires and subjective experiences and feelings of others. They often assume that others are totally concerned about their welfare. They tend to monopolize conversations and discuss their affairs in lengthy details, while failing to recognize others have feelings and needs. In fact, they find others needs, feelings and thoughts to be quite boring. They are often impatient with others feelings. When forced to recognize the needs or feelings of others, they are viewed as weak