Narcissistic Personality Disorder- An Ultimate Guide for Awareness
Chowdhury Fatima Rokon Tuli
Expert in Customer Experience Management | Service Quality Enhancement | Service Management Specialist
Introduction
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is quite a widely used term for people whose personality is characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance. Though, often this stigma is inappropriately applied to narrate any unhealthy behavior of a certain individual.
Originally, people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) are often considered as self-absorbed, lacking empathy, and constant need for admiration & attention.
This type of people easily got unhappy & depressed when they’re not received their deserved care & praise. Their surroundings often feel bored & uncomfortable due to their overly snobbish behavior. For their complex attitude, people with NPD face suffering in several spheres of their life, including work, school, or intimate relationships.
The causes of narcissistic personality disorder are still fully not revealed but still recognized by experts that traumatic incidents have direct links with such unconventional behavior.
However, professional help & counselling may be helpful to recover NPD-related complexity & guide these people on how to lead a normal life.
This ultimate guide for narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) will discuss elaborately below fundamental issues related to that:
What is a Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) or megalomania is one of the tenth personality disorders regarded in the fifth Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
People with NPD have inflated & grandiose ideas about themselves. They often display selfish, arrogant & demanding attitudes, but it’s because they have a very fragile sense of self-worth. Their higher self-esteem perceives them as special & superior to others. Besides, they’re also hypersensitive to any slight criticism.
Due to having overly sense of self-importance, make narcissistic people daydream about themselves as powerful, successful & attractive than others. They feel very uncomfortable with the compliments of “less than perfect” & they’ll try their best to cover up any inconsistencies that they have.
Having NPD makes people difficult to mingle with others & they remain very indifferent to the feelings of other people.
According to California-based psychologist Robert Moody, PhD.”NPD is such a mental disorder which causes lifetime struggle for the victim to maintain cordial & intimate relationships with family, friends & co-workers.”
In global statistics, it’s found that NPD is prevalent in approximately 0.5% of the United States population. There has been a striking disparity in terms of gender while highlighting the prevalence of NPD symptoms. About 75% of NPD victims are men in the U.S. The major problem with NPD victims is that they often feel they have no errors & follow very poor insights about themselves.
“They accuse others of having problem & reluctant to admit their problem”. Says, Dr. Moody
In terms of NPD manifestations, it differs between men & women. Few scientific researchers found that narcissistic female personality is characterized by jealousy, insecurity, and competitiveness with other women, such as overbearing mother-in-law.
On the other hand, men with NPD are more likely to exploit others for their gain & exhibit qualities of domineering behavior & craving for power hunger.
Researchers have exposed that as a cluster B personality disorder, people with NPD portray the below type of behavior:
The Difference between Narcissism & Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
Nowadays, the word “narcissism” has become overly used & exploited while describing any individual who tends towards being self-absorbed, boastful, or obnoxious.
But, we need to use discernment while applying such general entitlement without having proper understanding. Key differences are remaining between a person with narcissistic tendencies & a person who is clinically diagnosed with having Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).
Now, you may ask the question that how we can spot those differences.
Well, the major key differences between these two concepts typically depend upon the severity, intensity, frequency & duration of the problem.
In our lifetime, we all may display at least one narcissistic trait for a certain period. It’s occasional. But if any traits of mental condition that are prevailing for a longer time & causing disruption with your surroundings, then it should be considered to bring under medical scrutiny.
People with narcissistic personality disorder always feel over-confident & superior to others. They have very little or no empathy for the emotional consequences of others due to their action.
But, under this shallow surface, the individual feels a deep sense of shame, emptiness & carries low self-esteem.
For this reason, they are highly susceptible to any harsh criticism of them. People with NPD always feel depressed & miserable.
Due to their anti-social nature, they always remain alienated from their friends, family & peers.
On the other hand, people who have no such mental illness but have a narcissistic tendency only show their abusive side to achieve anything. They always feel entitled to get admiration compared to their actual attributes.
They feel delighted by letting down others. For their gain, they can exploit others without considering the feelings, conditions & plights of those people. It’s a quite striking fact that they have no sense or insights into their actions.
Even, they don’t feel anything wrong within them. Consequently, they feel no shame or remorse for their abusive strategy.
The major difference between narcissist & narcissistic personality disorder is that narcissistic has no mental illness & always craving for power, prestige & money.
Narcissists never hold back to exercising power & punishment to attain power & position. Historically, we found evidence of narcissistic leaders, such as Adlof Hitlar, Joseph Stalin, Polpot, Donald Trump & others.
Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
Signs & symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder may vary from person to person. Normally, NPD shows its traits in early adulthood. Initially, people are unable to recognize it until its negative impact creates huge havoc & instability in personal & professional life. You may be the victim of NPD if you feel susceptible to the below issues:
Considering the above factors, if you feel, you’re experiencing the same immediately visit your local health care professional.
Usually, mental health professionals use the new edition of the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) which is published by the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5) to identify NPD-related symptoms.
The DSM-5 selected below 9 diagnostic traits for NPD identification:
Apart from the above-specified traits, people with NPD confront real-time challenges to maintain amicable inter-personal relationships due to having the below characteristics:
To detect whether you meet these traits, your mental health care professional may ask you to fill up a certain questionnaire. Your doctor also investigates other associated mental disorders & health conditions.
When to Take Appointment for a Doctor:
The most difficult aspect for the treatment of NPD is that people having these symptoms hardly recognize & admit that they have any issues.
Half of the battle can be conquered when people with narcissistic personality disorder perceived that their problematic behavior creating disruption in their life & relationships.
Typically, people with having NPD consult with a doctor when they feel depressed addicted to alcohol or other substance abuse, or have other mental health concerns.
NPD patients feel offended to accept the symptoms of this mental disorder which sometimes halt their intensity to continue the treatment.
If you or someone close to you have such relevant symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder & feeling constant depression, mood swings & prone to make suicidal attempts, then immediately take the help of your health care provider.
With the help of regular & consistent treatment, people with NPD can enjoy happy & delighted life.
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Causes of Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
The exact causes of narcissistic personality disorder are still obscure to all health experts. Though it is generally considered that, the combinations of genetic & environmental factors are responsible for this mental disorder.
During early childhood, the following issues are liable to developing NPD:
Diagnosis & Tests:
The diagnostic feature& processes of narcissistic personality disorder are quite similar to other mental health disorders.
Normally, a lot of health care providers conduct such diagnoses & tests of NPD, including licensed mental health therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, pediatricians, physician assistants & social workers.?
Usually, the standard diagnosis process of NPD may follow the below steps:
?Treatment
Treatment of narcissistic personality disorder is primarily associated with the long-term counseling & talk therapy which is known as psychotherapy.
Psychotherapy can provide useful insights about own self & suggest constructive recommendations that NPD patients make necessary changes for their life. Psychotherapy can help NPD patients on how to:
As its quite difficult to change personality traits, so it may take several years of counseling to bring beneficial improvements.
Due to its prolonged nature, a lot of NPD patients feel that it’s a waste of time & stop following further treatment. This temptation will bring vain results.
Hence, try to be patient & stick with the treatment & recommendations as guided by your physician to enjoy a rewarding life.?
Medications
There are no definite medications still approved to cure narcissistic personality disorder. Despite that, if you tend towards depression, anxiety, or other mental illness, then your psychotherapist may recommend the below medications to prevent those symptoms.
Antidepressants: Healthcare providers usually recommend these types of medicine to treat depression. Mainly doctors prescribe serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). This type of drug has fewer side effects than other antidepressants. SSRI medications include sertraline, fluoxetine & paroxetine.
Antipsychotic drugs: These types of medications include aripiprazole & risperidone. This type of drug helps you to fight the symptoms of depression, anxiety & stress.
Mood stabilizers: To stabilize your mood swings, your mental health professional can recommend taking mood-stabilizing drug such as lithium.
Lifestyle & Home Remedies:
People with NPD often feel taking treatment of narcissistic personality disorder seems worthless & unnecessary. The characteristic of NPD makes you think that as you have no error so continuing therapy is just useless. But, in reality, to quit halfway from treatment can bring some negative impacts.
Along with traditional treatments, below lifestyle modifications & home remedies can resist NPD symptoms & ensure fulfilling life:
Complications
Complications of narcissistic personality disorder became intense & severe if it remains untreated. NPD patients face trouble in the below areas without having consistent treatment for this mental health disorder:
How to Live with a Narcissist
It’s a great dilemma for a lot of us to live with a narcissistic family member. You can identify narcissistic traits within any member of your parents or siblings to whom you can hardly abandon your soul tie.
Even, your spouse may be revealed their NPD symptoms & you are very unlikely to leave your partner due to potential financial uncertainty, social disgrace, or the security issue of children.
Not only that your boss or co-worker also displays narcissistic traits that you just cannot terminate your existing job due to the livelihood of your family, so you have to tolerate their miserable behavior by no means.
Living with an arrogant, selfish & grandiose narcissist is not a joke.
There is very less reason that one cannot lose their mind. One must need a well-calculated defense mechanism to tolerate constant bullying, intimidation, belittling & avoiding?tactics?for intimacy by a narcissist.
Here, we’re suggesting a few techniques how to deal with a narcissistic person:
Dispassionately Observe their Nature
To deal with a narcissist skillfully, you must have to examine & evaluate their behavior & lifestyle in an unbiased manner. When you have full clarity about their pattern, you can realign your differences & disputes with a narcissist. You can handle their tantrum more rationally & intellectually.
Get familiar with the Abuse Cycle:
To handle a narcissist, you need to learn the four unique phases of the narcissistic abusive cycle. Those 4 aspects are:
Once you train your mind with the key features of each phase, you can devise your technique how to stop the abuse.
Recognize Abuse Tactics:
It’s a common characteristic of narcissists that they execute any abuse tactics repeatedly if they found them effective. Narcissists usually several abusive tools as their control mechanism, such as bullying, gas lighting, aggression, twisting the truth, sexual coercion, deprivation from giving money, and dual face thinking. Accept the tactic as a normal scenario rather than taking it too personally.
Boost their Ego:
The staple food of a narcissist is to get constant attention, admiration, compliments & affirmation. To subside their age & anger, find ways to show appreciation & cajole them. It satisfies their ego & retains stability within relationships.
Establish Boundaries:
To avert any discontent with a narcissist, try to avoid the blame game. Narcissists never take accountability for their mistakes & express their apologies for their wrongdoings.
Instead, they expect others will show an apology to them without any reason. Even they exaggerate other wrongdoings to cover up their errors. To live with them peacefully, try to never involve in the counter-blame game as you already know the actual truth.
Takeaway
?Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is an acute mental illness & it is not a deliberate behavior that one displays. To recover from its detrimental effects, mental health professional’s intervention is a must.
But NPD people are highly resistant & adamant about taking any treatments as their symptoms convinced them that they have no defects until it impacts their life severely.
If they take their therapy patiently, they can learn the notion of empathy & the importance of taking other perspectives & emotions seriously.