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
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)
The Office Bully: It Doesn’t
Stop in the Classroom
Although the term “bully” immediately sets off an image
of a kid in the school playground holding court with his or her power,
bullying actually continues well into life and surprisingly even exists
in the nursing home environment. It seems, once a bully, always a bully...
(Read More)
The
Thinking and Belief Patterns of a Developing Narcissist
Narcissists rarely seek counseling as they do not have the ability to
step outside of themselves and see that their behavior and thinking
does not conform to that of the majority of the population. So, narcissists
rarely participate in therapy and are most likely encountered in the
office, in social groups, or most unfortunately, in the family setting...
(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
In previous articles I have talked about many aspects of Narcissistic
Personality Disorder (NPD). In this article, 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)
My Narcissistic
Mother is Dead: What Now?
What happens when your narcissistic parent suddenly dies? This largely
depends on what level the client has reached in therapy or in their
individual processing about the relationship. Being in therapy makes
this passage (and, in fact, dealing with a narcissist) much easier,
as negative belief systems sown in early childhood need to be unravelled
and changed... (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
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 there is also a profound desire to maintain a sense of self
and prevent further psychological harm to oneself… (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
Today we are going to look at the damage caused by different family
members who suffer from narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and
the relative effects on the rest of the family....(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 several articles of what life was like for Elinor,
the middle aged daughter of an elderly narcissistic mother. These articles
spawned countless comments and private correspondences, as well as instigating
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
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:
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)
The Male Narcissist
as a Worker and a Husband
... By the time Jenny was due to give birth, she was essentially alone
all day, isolated from the community, had no employment and was far
from family and friends. Jenny gave birth to a baby boy, whom Anthony
crowed over and shared photos on social media and at work. Anthony was
happy and proud of his achievement. It was all about Anthony... (Read
more)
No-One
Believes My Mother Is a Narcissist: The Narcissistic Façade
... On the surface, Gloria looks like a godsend. Under many conditions,
she is seemingly able to “control” her narcissism. However,
this “control” is a façade. The reason why Gloria
does all of the community work that she does is not due to her desire
to help others – it is all about her need to look good to others
and to look good to herself. In performing these duties, Gloria successfully
convinces others that she is a “wonderful” person –
“warm” and “loving”... (Read
more)
Office Politics
and Narcissistic Personality Disorder
We all encounter “difficult” people in the workplace, and
Karen was no exception. But there are subtle, yet significant, differences
in the way Karen behaves towards other employees that places her outside
of being just a difficult person to deal with. Karen is a full-blown
narcissist... (Read more)