Personality Disorders: What Is Narcissism?

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.

Have you ever been around someone who seems arrogant? It may not be just arrogance, that individual may have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder or NPD. Narcissus, a Greek mythological character, fell in love with his reflection in the water and could never pull himself away, so he ended up dying right beside the water after a while (Marcovitz 1). Narcissism became known as being self-centered and was developed after this Greek myth (Marcovitz 1). This disorder affects less than 1% of the American population and it occurs more in men than women (Thomas 1). Later on in life most people with NPD will experience severe symptoms around the ages of forty or fifty years old (Psych 1). Many people who have this disorder either refuse to get help

Narcissism can be defined as “ 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. But behind this mask of ultra confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that 's vulnerable to the slightest criticism” (Narcissistic personality disorder, n.d.). With this disorder people generally are unhappy and disappointed when they are not privileged to special favors or given admiration they believe they deserve. With narcissistic personality disorder problems in many areas of life can arise such as work, school, financial affairs, and relationships.

Kinicki and Fugate (2016) state that narcissism is a negative trait of inflated views of themselves, fantasize about being in control of everything, and like to attract the admiration of others (p. 509). The Air Force has provided

Narcissism: is a term that originated with Narcissus in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Currently it is used to describe the pursuit of gratification from vanity, or egotistic admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, that derive from arrogant pride.

Narcissism is more than that; it is egocentricity, arrogance, putting yourself on a pedestal and stomping everyone down with your staff. The term derived from a Roman myth of Narcissus and Echo (the Greek myth has some alterations). To sum it up, Echo- a nymph - fell in love with Narcissus after stalking him in the woods. He asked “Who’s there?” and Echo repeated him. Finally, she exposed herself to her love and got turned down. Echo got embarrassed and went away until she died; only an echo could be heard when she died. The goddess of revenge heard what had happened and hexed Narcissus. He looked at himself in the water and fell in love with himself. He realized that the love could never happen, so he killed himself. Because of Narcissus’s egocentricity, the term “narcissism” was coined after him. There is a legitimate personality disorder correlated with narcissism; it is called Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). According to the Mayo Clinic, “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.” Narcissism is not confidence; it is, rather simply put, arrogance. There are a variety of symptoms, including but not limited to coming across as boastful or pretentious; make conversations all about you; degrade people; and feeling a sense of entitlement. Despite all of the chutzpah, those that endure NPD are not exempt from having feelings of insecurity. In fact, those

Narcissism is the inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity. The term, "narcissism" comes, of course, from the Greek myth of Narcissus. Narcissus shunned all the other nymphs until one of them prayers to the goddess of love and made a request that someday narcissus would feel the joy and pain of love. The goddess granted the wish to the nymph and narcissus soon would understand the joy and pain of love. Narcissus went to get a drink of water and saw the most the most beautiful face that he had ever seen; he plunged in to kiss the face but could because it was his own reflection. Narcissus had fallen in love with his self. He lost all importance of food, movement or anything. Narcissus was cursed with the love of his

Narcissistic personality disorder is one of the many types of personality disorders that affect mental health, in which people desire to be seen and admired more than the average person. Those with narcissistic personality disorder believe they are more relevant or significant than others in society. They believe that due to their superiority in society, they do not need to take into consideration the feelings of others. However, like most people who have an immense amount sense of self importance and self-confidence, they have very little self-esteem and are sensitive to any criticism, regardless of how big or small it is. All of this limits their ability build friendships and relationships within their personal lives and society.

This paper is an attempt to shed some light on Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Many people who have this disorder are not usually aware that they have it. People who have a narcissistic personality can have many problems arise in their relationships, on their jobs, and at school. Narcissistic personality disorder is a rare case here in the US, with less than 200,000 reported cases a year. It might be because it isn’t reported enough and most the people who do have it are not going to just come out and say that they do. A person who is a narcissist usually exhibits a fixation with power, vanity, prestige, and personal importance. They are mentally unable to see the damage they are causing to themselves and the people around them. More awareness should be spread about this disorder so that it will become more identifiable in people and better treatment can be discovered. Spreading awareness will also help those who have NPD with getting help for it.

They feel as though they are more important than anyone around them and lack empathy toward others. Individuals with this disorder exaggerate about their life and their achievements. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is diagnosed based off an individual’s symptoms, a clinical evaluation, and a physical exam. Some symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder are similar to those of other personality disorders, such as Antisocial Personality Disorder and the lack of empathy. Another thing that these two disorders have in common is that the cause is unknown, but believed to be caused by childhood abuse, neglect, poor parenting, and possibly a link with

Now the problem with vanity or narcissistic is people tend to push their views of themselves or other matters on others. These views can tend to have others do some of the most extreme things, as what we read in

Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder display an exaggerated sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with being admired, and a lack of empathy for the feelings of others (Pincus & Lukowitsky,2010; Ronningstam,2005,2009). Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality

The word Narcissism derives from Narcissus, an ancient mythic Greece man. Narcissus was known to be exceptionally beautiful. So beautiful in fact, that he would look down upon those who loved him, and upon hearing of these events Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance, led him to a pool to view his reflection. He became so entranced in himself that he would not leave the pool, ultimately starving himself to death. Today, the word Narcissism is defined as “excessive interest in or admiration of oneself and one’s physical appearance.” by the Oxford dictionary, but is this really the case? I believe the negative connotation bounded to the word Narcissism is necessarily true and instead, believe the opposite, in that narcissism brings upon benefits

Do narcissists exist? Does anyone have these kinds of thoughts that are highly willing to accept praises or be satisfied by other’s attention? If the answer is yes, someone probably has narcissistic personalities. A narcissistic person, who admires himself or herself too much, will easily encounter failure. Unrealistic thinking, fear of failure and excessive self-love are three qualities inhabiting a narcissistic person from being successful.

Narcissism is focusing only on one’s self; putting one’s wellbeing and motivations first. Similar to Freud’s theory of the pleasure principle, narcissistic individuals seek pleasure for only themselves. Their sole motivation is themselves. Freud’s theories tend to trace our neuroses back to childhood development and his theory of narcissism does just that. We learn as a child to be the center of our own world and it is reinforced as we age. The problem is learning to let go of this narcissism before it becomes a serious flaw in our adult lives. However, Freud seems to suggest that stripping one’s self of their narcissistic tendencies is easier said than done. Freud states that “observation of normal adults shows that their former megalomania has been damped down and that the physical characteristics from which we inferred their infantile narcissism has been effaced” (Freud, 415). In other words, our narcissism in reinforced as children, but slowly fades out of our conscious as we age. This suggests that is still present in our unconscious, which is where our true desires