Narcissistic Personality Disorder: causes and symptoms.

The psychological profile of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

The narcissistic persons do not usually frequent the consultations of psychology and mental health professionals, but it is quite common that some patients report problems as a result of living with people with a narcissistic profile.

Likewise, there are people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder in many areas, and of course also in public life or in the media.

What is Narcissism?

We usually associate Narcissistic Personality Disorder with show business personalities: artists, actors, singers, intellectuals? They are those characters who, as they say colloquially, "have gone to their heads with fame".

Of course, narcissism is not directly linked to socioeconomic status. socioeconomic position socioeconomic position of a person, but with the self-perception of the individual (i.e., the perception of his or her self-worth, regardless of social or economic position). The true essence of Narcissistic Personality Disorder lies there: the narcissistic person is absolutely convinced that he/she is superior to him/herself. convinced that he/she is superior to other people. to other people. The narcissist systematically compares himself with the people around him, and sees no one above him, but places many (or even all) below him.

In more technical terms, narcissism is characterized as an overall pattern of grandiosity, little empathy in personal relationships, and need to be admired by others.

What does a narcissistic person look like?

People suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder tend to show themselves as individuals with strong self-esteem. This high self-confidence does not make them better people, since in the area of interpersonal relationships, they have important deficiencies.

The narcissist always needs to consider himself on a higher plane than other people, either because he cannot stand some trait of these close ones, or because he has dissociated himself from his former contact with them. Because of this affective disengagement towards othersBecause of this affective disengagement towards others, people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder lack a genuine interest in others, which can be summarized by their scarce empathy. They are not very concerned about what may happen to people around them, but focus all their attention on themselves.

They only approve of third parties when these revolve around their orbit, when they positively reinforce them with compliments and thus ratify their self-perception and their airs of grandeur. Unfortunately, it is common for some family members and friends of narcissistic people to fulfill this role of unconditional "admirers", surprised by the halo of confidence that the narcissist exudes.

The narcissist's personality and his day-to-day life

People suffering from some degree of Narcissistic Personality Disorder export their self-sufficient manner and airs of grandiosity beyond the family environment. They are usually individuals who thrive in life and take advantage of their way of thinking about themselves.

Narcissistic people are often not at all comfortable when they have to travel on public transport or when they have to be admitted to a hospital, because they will tend to think that they deserve better treatment or will complain if they are not granted a hospital stay. they will complain if they are not granted certain privileges.. In case they have a good job, they tend to use their money to buy watches, shoes, clothes or sports cars of their choice. high standingbecause they consider themselves worthy of these distinctions: their status and image of success is very important to a narcissist.

The narcissist's discourse tends to be self-referential.. The narcissistic person expects their words to receive superior attention; it is not uncommon for them to be petulant talking about themselves, about their life, their (unquestioned) opinion about things, demanding full attention to everything they say.

Although we are used to seeing people with a narcissistic profile on television or in the movies and we may even consider them funny and eccentric, the truth is that routine personal dealings with a person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder can be irritating. In addition to their egocentric behavior that we have already mentioned, they are also characterized by being very spiteful people, and they tend to maintain attitudes of resentment and revenge towards others. They tend to enjoy making other people feel bad, thus increasing their ego and feeling of superiority. They are competitive and if they believe that someone can overshadow them, they will try to undermine that person's prestige and reputation.

Summary

We are going to know some aspects of great relevance in the clinical performance for cases of people with a tendency to narcissism.

Diagnostic Criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder

According to the classification elaborated and published in the DSM-V-TR, the Narcissistic Personality Disorder has the following signs that can be useful to mental health professionals when establishing a diagnosis:

• They feel an excessive sense of grandiosity.
• They are permanently preoccupied with fantasies of power, success, beauty or love.
• They are people who believe they are special and who try to have their status recognized.
• They demand excessive admiration from others.
• They express a sense of being "in their right". That is, they have irrational expectations about the treatment they deserve.
• They take advantage of other people for their own ends (Machiavellianism).
• Lack empathy, i.e., they are unable to identify with or recognize other people's feelings and emotions.
• They are envious of others, or believe that others are envious.
• They tend to be arrogant.

On the other hand, it must be remembered that people whose behaviors fall into the category of Narcissistic Personality Disorder can be very varied in the way they express this disorder. At the end of the day, each person is different and we cannot capture all the nuances of someone's personality from diagnostic manuals.