John Merrow Narcissism In Relationships

Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. (Mayo Clinic, 2014) Like other personality disorders, narcissists have traits that cause them to feel and behave in socially distressing ways, limiting their ability to function in important areas of life, such as school, work, and relationships. What may not be apparent to the outside eye is that there is a very fragile and friable self-esteem that is very thin-skinned. Those with this disorder think very highly of themselves and have a hard time seeing anyone else’s views, because they believe their way is the best way. They have self-centered fantasies that are high and wide of actual reality. Receiving criticism for them, even in the slightest, can be so detrimental. You may never see the extreme sensitivity to the criticism because it is often kept so quiet and hidden from others.

“For two hours tonight, he sits in between his parents with his arms spread out and draped behind their backs. He holds the tops of each of their heads and they nod and blankly drone on about what a wonder and a gift

There are many business issues we all face in the work place today. One of those that I can personally relate to my professional work life is narcissism. Stephen Robbins defines narcissism as being “the tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-importance, require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement.” (Robbins, 2009, p. 113) We have one employee who has the attitude of narcissism. He is very arrogant and thinks that he knows everything about anything. This would be fine if he actually did. However, we are an electrical company. Meaning we work very closely with electricity, which is highly dangerous if you do not know 100% what you are doing. It makes it very difficult to work with someone like this. They make their co-workers feel belittled and they are less effective at the job. Narcissisms are very arrogant in the fact that they do not care about their co-workers feelings. In the article “Narcissism and Emotional Contagion”, Writer Anna Czarna states that after much research, “narcissists are less likely to “catch

. . paralyze [mavericks, dissenters, and dreamers] by insisting that every step be a step up to the next rung of the ladder.” I completely agree. To tell people that have potential, ability, and talent, that they ought to succeed without ever tasting failure, this is not only unrealistic but also deprecating. In so doing, we hold them back; for we do not tell them about all the times that things did not go according to plan. Additionally, we do not tell them about our missteps; we only tell them about our achievements. Parents say “Don’t fail!” and cause their children to become more prone to deficiency. This is why we must let it be known that failure is a part of life, and that to go through it simply helps to eliminate paths that will not lead to

Being one of the rarer personality disorders and being a controversial diagnosis, Narcissistic Personality Disorder maintains its inclusion in the DSM-5. What makes Narcissistic Personality Disorder controversial is because many believe that clinicians focus on entitled interpersonal behaviors rather than the patient’s underlying, internal struggles. This makes the diagnosis less informative and more critiqued as a disorder. Narcissistic Personality Disorder lifetime prevalence is 6.2% and is more often seen in higher-functioning/private practices. A major advance in Narcissistic Personality Disorder is the recognition of its co-morbidity/vulnerability. In the DSM-5, it includes both dimensions and central traits, incorporates evaluations of

Narcissism is a terrible trait to have in an employee, you discuss the way narcissism makes one of your coworkers feel entitled to a leadership position. Hopefully he is not given any leadership powers until he reigns in his narcissism. Narcissistic leaders can be even more problematic than a narcissistic employee. Leadership is about influencing someone, or a group, to achieve a goal (Kinicki & Fugate, 2016). Narcissists struggle to influence people because they are too wrapped up in themselves. Their feelings of superiority can also lead to them being short or condescending with employees.

In his TED talk, “A kinder, gentler philosophy of success”, Alain de Botton focuses on the different ways that society views and accepts successes and failures. One model that de Botton discusses is one where an individual takes their successes and failures to be upon themselves. He mentions that individuals who take responsibility for their failures, as much as they do their successes, are more likely to have low self-esteem and career anxiety. With this lack of confidence and added stress, de Botton concludes that it is difficult to find one’s “kinder, gentler . . . success” because an individual will fear the judgment that will surround their mistakes and the resulting negative effect on their reputation – which are all due to the mistakes that stem from their own fault.

In this article written by Joe Navarro, he explains what differentiates a narcissist from a psychopath. A narcissist overvalues themselves by devaluing others. They view themselves as "special, privileged, entitled, and void of flaws". He believes that they think they are incapable of making mistakes and taking responsibility. Narcissists believe they are above everyone else and no one is equal to them, they have an excessive interest in themselves and thinks the world revolves around them.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a personality disorder in which a person highly views themselves, unable to see any harm they cause to others around them. Yet, they have a strong need for admiration, which might cause them to develop anger issues if they lack this admiration. Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) can be caused at early childhood ages; however, it is usually not diagnosed until late teens (Brandwein, 2012). Also it is hard to diagnose since people who suffer from this disorder cannot mentally realize they are suffering.

Narcissism is defined as excessive self-love and self-absorption by Myers and Dewall, (Myers & Dewall, 2015). A narcissist is completely and utterly obsessed with their own self. According to Caligor, Levy, and Yeomans (2015), narcissistic personality disorder is highly comorbid with other disorders and other psychosocial disabilities. Unfortunately, there has not been very much research on narcissism and its effects and symptoms in the past. Because of this, new studies are occurring to discover the untold answers about narcissism. Thanks to the newly found research, it has been shown that there are two subtypes of narcissistic personality disorder, with characteristics of grandiosity and vulnerability. (Lannin, Guyll, Krizan, Madon & Cornish, 2013). Those who struggle with narcissistic personality disorder may be generalized as a grandiose narcissist or a vulnerable narcissist. A grandiose narcissist may be self-loathing, have a need for admiration, feel as though they are entitled to everything, and have a lack of empathy, (Caligor, Levy, & Yeomans, 2015). A vulnerable narcissist is one who struggles with, or has low self-esteem; they are hypersensitive, they may also feel lesser than everyone else, and may feel internal emptiness, (Caligor, Levy, & Yeoman, 2015).

Given the circumstances of the case we may just be getting introduced to a potential murderer. The issue at matter is that the man that has been accused of murder may not have been in full mental health at the time of the action. We are deciphering if he is mentally stable to be convicted of murder or if he should be sent to a correctional facility. Although the man confessed to the murder, he may not have been mentally responsible for the act in question. Given the circumstances of the mans mental state we are concerned considering he himself said that he has a “disease”.

To understand narcissism, it is important to have a simple recognition of what a mental disorder is. A mental disorder is a disorder that interferes with a person’s ability to think, feel, function, express moods and emotions, and relate to other people. “One in four American adults is affected by a mental disorder each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness” (Mental Disorders). Narcissism also falls under the category of a personality disorder. A personality disorder is a psychological disorders marked by inflexible, disruptive, and enduring behavior patterns that impair social and other functioning. Narcissism itself involves characteristics such as inflated self-esteem, lack of empathy, tendency to exploit others, need for excessive admiration, vanity, sense of superiority, desire for authority, interpersonal exploitation, and feelings of entitlement. There are two subcategories under narcissism; covert narcissistic personality disorder and overt narcissistic personality disorder. Covert narcissistic personality disorder involves outward expression of low self-esteem and hypersensitivity but underlying attitudes of superiority and sense of entitlement. Overt narcissistic personality disorder involves grandiosity and arrogance (Weikel). The symptoms expressed by narcissists are considered truculent. Sadly, “these characteristics may be increasing among American college students” (Weikel). These arrogant, self-absorbed people are usually despised in society, causing others to believe narcissists are criminals. However, narcissism does not keep a person from being virtuous and moral. Narcissism displays unfortunate qualities in people, causing families to decline the disorder in their loved ones, but it does not mean these people should not be accepted in

Narcissus is described as a handsome young man who was so irresistible that any young girls who met eyes with him would want to be his, but the young man himself does not associate any relationship regarding romance or love in return to them at all. A nymph by the name of Echo would also find herself to be madly in love with him, but Narcissus still does not find any attraction to any members of the opposite sex. A mischievous goddess who goes by the name of Juno would discover and find interest in Echo and decided that she would punish her by making it so she can never talk again except repeating the last word the person has spoken. Then one day, Narcissus called out to his friends and Echo noticed him calling so she

Couples therapy to treat the narcissists in a partner can be difficult but can be efficient. Using couple’s intervention as stated by Millon & Davis (1996), can assist the narcissist individual to learn how to relate to another human being by being more compassionate and sensitive to the romantic partner. It was stated that by using role-reversals

Narcissism is a multidimensional construct, according, to Furnham (2008) narcissists are “self-people – self-confident, self-asserting, self-possessing, self-aggrandising, self-preoccupied, self-loving and ultimately self-destructive” (p. 166). They lack empathy, exploit others for personal gain and have an overwhelming sense of entitlement (Miller, Campbell & Pilkonis, 2007). Recent research (Konrath, Corneille, Bushman & Luminet, 2013) suggest that the exploitativeness aspect of narcissism underpins the narcissists propensity to engage in bullying due to emotional recognition, based on their ability to “read people like a book” (pp. 139-140). This potentially contributes to what (Glaso, et al. (2007) consider predatory bullying in the workplace. Further, substantiated by (Jones & Paulhus, 2010; O’Boyle et al. 2012; Jones & Neria, 2015), who posit that narcissists only aggress upon ego threat, because narcissism is a “disorder of self-esteem” (Furnham, 2008, p. 16; Thomaes, Stegge, Bushman, Olthof & Denissen, 2008), aggressive behaviour facilitates the regulation of the narcissists self-image (Martinez, Zeichner, Reidy & Miller, 2008). Research, suggests that the antecedents and consequences of narcissism are similar among youths and adults (Thomaes, Brummelman, Reijintjes & Bushman, 2013). In addition, (Fanti & Kimonis, 2012, 2013) contend that the callous unemotional aspect of narcissism underpins the instigation, perpetration and stable trajectory of bullying among adolescents. Baughman et al. (2012) assert that narcissists demonstrate a propensity to engage in indirect bullying on the basis that they perceive it to be more “socially desirable” (p. 574). The current study contends that narcissism is associated with bulling in the workplace, in addition research suggests that narcissists possess high