Narcissistic personality disorder
“The sadistic narcissist perceives himself as Godlike, ruthless and devoid of scruples, capricious and unfathomable, emotion-less and non-sexual, omniscient, omnipotent and omni-present, a plague, a devastation, an inescapable verdict.”
― Sam Vaknin
What do you mean by narcissistic personality disorder?
Narcissistic personality disorder is a type of psychological problem in which a person is characterized by the long-term pattern of exaggerated feeling of self-worth. A person needs excessive admiration and lack of empathy towards other people and not concerned with other people affairs, they only think about themselves. It is a long-term personality disorder. As we know that it is a psychological problem so it can be treated by psychotherapy. Such people face many complications at their educational sectors or their job places.
Causes of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
There are some common causes which specialists consider are the causes of narcissistic disorders. They are the following:
- Environmental factors
- Family history
- Changes in brain functions
- Learned behaviours from others which we called modelling
These are common causes behind almost all the personality disorders. It is because they are the major contributors towards the formation of specific personality factors.
Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
You always need the help of a certified health care practitioner for diagnosis but having little knowledge might convince you that you or any of your friends need psychological assistance. Following are the symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder:
- Exaggerated feeling of self-worth
- Need excessive admiration
- Wants to become superior than others
- Exaggerate success and talents
- Having preoccupying fantasies about success, achievement, wealth, power, superiority
- Expect unnecessary rewards, appreciations, success and power.
- Consider themselves superior from other people
- Become aggressive
- Feeling depressed and moody people
- Experience stress
- Difficulty to control emotions
Risk Factors
Following are most observed risk factors of narcissistic personality disorder:
- If you have a family history of personality disorder
- Due to some changes in brain functions leads to narcissistic personality disorder
- Some environmental factors also involve
- Unstable family life during childhood
- Being neglect during childhood
Common Complications
Following are the common complications you may face if you are having a narcissistic personality disorder:
- Drug and alcohol abuse
- Try to suicide
- Relationship problems
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Excessive stress
- Physical and mental health problems
Diagnosing Narcissistic Personality Disorder
There are certain test batteries developed for the identification of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Having certain scores in those tests in sure that the person has this disorder. Following are the methodologies and techniques used by the doctors or psychiatrist are:
- Psychiatric evaluation
- Asking about the symptoms you have experience
- Diagnostic criteria from DSM-5
- Psychological test batteries
Treating Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Doctors can treat this type of psychological problems by the following methods and techniques which we discussed here:
- Medications
- Psychotherapy
Personality disorders are basically managed and cannot be treated 100% because they are deeply rooted in a person. Therapies and counselling provides support to the client so that their lifestyle and behavior becomes better.