Articles on Narcissistic Personality Disorder

What is Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
David is an intelligent and successful financial planner who threw in a lucrative job to become a full-time author. Even having a short conversation with David leaves the listener with the impression that David thinks very highly of himself... (Read more)

Narcissism-Symptoms and Treatment (1)
Narcissism-A Love Affair with the Self: It's one thing to have a healthy self-esteem, but it's quite another to have such an inflated sense of importance that other people's feelings, beliefs, and thoughts have no relevance... (Read more)

Dealing with a Narcissistic Family Member
In previous blogs on Narcissistic Personality Disorder, we looked at common behavioral patterns of the clinical narcissist as well as the diagnostic criteria required to be diagnosed with this disorder... (Read more)

Is Your Boss a Psychopath?
He or she might not actually murder you, but they will stab you in the back when you least expect it. Corporate psychopaths, as they are known in business circles, are on the increase, and although not technically psychopaths, are certainly responsible for extreme stress levels in the workplace... (Read more)

Dealing with the Office Psychopath
The corporate psychopath is fast becoming recognized as a toxic force in the workplace. Although psychologically they are classified under the category of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, these business bullies go by the common name of Corporate Psychopath. Let's look at some examples... (Read more)

Dealing with a Narcissistic Mother
Recent statistics indicate that the incidence of Narcissistic Personality Disorder is on the increase. Therefore more and more of us will come across narcissistic individuals in the course of our daily lives, whether at work or in the family home... (Read more)

Escaping the Trap of the Narcissistic Mother
In Dealing with a Narcissistic Mother, we looked at how 39-year-old Elinor was still caught up in a desperate game of trying to win the love and approval of her mother, who suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder... (Read more)

The Aging Narcissistic Parent (1)
In previous articles I have talked about many aspects of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). See the links below for further insights into this puzzling yet extremely damaging condition. In this series of articles, we will look further into the mind of a narcissist and will also address ways for the adult child of a narcissist to deal with the challenges before them. (Read more)

The Aging Narcissistic Parent (2)
The person who suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder finds the aging process more difficult to deal with than the average person. Looks fade, the body no longer responds like that of a young healthy person, and the mind is no longer as sharp as it once was... (Read more)

The Aging Narcissistic Parent (3)
It is tempting to make excuses for the behavior of an aging mother or father who may be living on their own with failing health...(Read more)

When Your Child's Grandparent is a Narcissist
We have looked at many articles concerning what it is like to be the child of a narcissistic parent. But what happens when you, the child of a narcissist, go on to have children of your own? How does having children influence your relationship with your narcissistic parent?... (Read more)

Defending Yourself Against the Aging Narcissist (1)
We've discussed in previous articles the many pitfalls of dealing with the aging narcissist, especially when the person concerned is a parent. There is an internal struggle familiar to adult children of narcissists and that is the need to treat their frail and aging parent in a humane way and yet a profound desire to maintain a sense of self and prevent further psychological harm to oneself… (Read more)

Defending Yourself against the Aging Narcissist (2)
In the first article in this series (see link below) we looked at the first two tips for dealing with a parent with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Today we continue with further aids for dealing with these damaging and difficult people… (Read more)

How a Narcissist Thinks
People who live, work or interact socially with a person who suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder are often at a loss as to the way in which the latter's mind works. They are more than selfish, they appear to have little or no social conscience, yet on the other hand can exude a sense of charm that other, more normal people, could never compete with. So just what makes these people tick?... (Read more)

Should You Confront a Narcissist about their Narcissism?
This is a question I am often asked by clients who are dealing with a narcissist in their lives. The answer is: it depends. As a psychologist, I cannot tell a client what to do, they have to come to a decision about what to do about problems in their lives on their own and be comfortable with those decisions. But what I can do is point out the pros and cons of telling a person suffering from narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), and what effects that revelation can have on the client... (Read more)

Why Is Narcissistic Personality Disorder So Little Known?
This is a question that clients often ask me. Having suffered for decades under the regime of a narcissistic parent, they discover, sometimes almost halfway through their lifetime, that their parent has had narcissist personality disorder (NPD) all along... (Read more)

Why Did You Have a Baby?
Women have babies for lots of different reasons. Some women have wanted babies since they were quite young children themselves. Others have no interest at all in having children, but as time progresses they decide that they do want a child of their own...(Read more)

Narcissistic Parents and Rape
If there is ever a time when a female needs the support of her parents, in particular her mother, it is when she has been raped or in some way sexually abused...(Read More)

Denying the Fathers Role when Mother is a Narcissist
One of the more painful aspects of detaching from a narcissist mother is acknowledging the role that the father plays in the family dynamic...(Read More)

When a Therapist Fails to Diagnose Narcissistic Personality Disorder in the Extended Family
It is not uncommon for many of my clients to have previously entered therapy for a range of conditions including depression and anxiety-related disorders and to be treated as what is known as the "Identified Patient" by their therapist and labeled with these disorders....(Read More)

The Relative Effects of Family Members with Narcissistic Personality Disorder
In addition to looking at what is narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and the diagnostic criteria required for a diagnosis of the condition (see links above), today we are going to look at the damage caused by different family members who suffer from the disorder and the relative effects on....(Read More)

Having a Sibling with Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Although nowhere near as emotionally harmful as having a parent with this disorder, growing up with a sibling with narcissistic personality disorder can be an extremely painful experience, particularly if that sibling is older than you are. Let's look at the case of Lisa and Margo...(Read More)

The Aging Narcissist: What Happened to Elinor?
Some time ago I wrote an article of what life was like for Elinor, the middle aged daughter of an elderly narcissistic mother. This article has spawned countless comments and private correspondences, as well as an introductory to therapy for many people...(Read More)

Why Don't Significant Life Events Change Narcissists?
This article was prompted by one of my readers who noted that even after a brush with cancer, her narcissistic mother did not use that opportunity to change her life...(Read More)

Aging Narcissistic Mothers: Elinor's Last Stand
We have looked at Elinor's story in two separate articles as she fought to regain control of her life against her narcissistic mother. Today's article is about what happened when Elinor gave her mother the greatest gift of all and was rejected in a cruel and vindictive way...(Read More)

Forgiving Your Narcissistic Parent
When I work with a client who is struggling to deal with the pain and the devastation caused by being raised by a narcissist, I never include as part of the agenda of therapy the idea of forgiving their parent...(Read More)

Sadistic Narcissism: A Different Edge to Narcissism
So far in the many articles written on Narcissistic Personality Disorder, we have concentrated on the typical form of this particular disorder. But in rarer cases, some sufferers of this disorder have an added comorbidity: the addition of a sadistic streak in their personality...(Read More)

Sadistic Narcissism: Margo's Story (1)
In our previous introduction to Sadistic Narcissism (see link above), we looked at the difference between narcissistic personality disorder )NPD), sexual sadism and narcissistic personality disorder with sadistic tendencies...(Read More)

Sadistic Narcissism: Margo's Story (2)
In the first instalment of this series on narcissistic personality disorder with sadistic tendencies, Margo was 15. We looked at her behavioral problems which involved both her peers at school who she bullied, and her three-year old sister who she physically abused for pleasure...(Read More)

Sadistic Narcissism: Margo's Story (3)
In the first two installments of Margo's story we looked at Margo's increasing sadistic tendencies as she aged from a young girl through to late teenagehood...(Read More)

Sadistic Narcissism: Margo's Story (4)
In our continuing saga of Margo and her diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder with sadistic tendencies, we jump forward a few years and Margo is in her thirties and having her house renovated. She has employed an Asian painter to paint the inside of her house and he speaks little English...(Read More)

Sadistic Narcissism: The End of Margo's Reign of Sadism (1)
In our previous articles where we looked at the life of Margo from the age of elementary school to adulthood, we saw how Margo's increasing sadistic tendencies were infiltrating her burgeoning development of narcissistic personality disorder...(Read More)

Sadistic Narcissism: The End of Margo's Reign of Sadism (2)
We have followed the story of Margo and her particular brand of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) for several articles (see links below). We have also looked at how Margo took out her deep sense of insecurity by tormenting her younger sister Leah, who at twelve years her junior was for many years not able to control the situation that she was being subjected to. Today we will examine how Leah finally took the reigns and removed Margo's power once and for al...(Read More)

Going "No Contact" with your Narcissistic Parent: Good or Bad? (1)
The act of going no contact, (or NC as it is commonly referred to by therapists and clients alike) with a narcissistic parent is one that crops up often during the therapeutic process. Often people ask me "Should I go no contact with my narcissistic parent?"...(Read More)

Going "No Contact" with your Narcissistic Parent: Good or Bad? (2)
In the first article in this series (see link below) we looked at how it is almost the norm to get locked into a cycle of going no contact (NC) with your narcissistic parent and what drives some of the mechanisms behind the coming and goings of the adult child of an NPD parent...(Read More)

Return to Home Page