Everything You Need to Know About Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Pavan A
5 min readDec 9, 2021
Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash

With the advancement of technology, our lives are becoming more complex. The tools that we use to communicate with each other have become very sophisticated. But the downside is that humans have become more self-absorbed and narcissistic. Our relationship with society has completely changed, and it is affecting our lives greatly.

We are now living in a world where everyone’s life revolves around their own interests and needs, rather than those of others, which has increased narcissism among us. We can see this in our technology-based society; people feel like part of the universe instead of having to rely on others for help or support. The narcissism can also be felt by users as they feel like they need to prove themselves every day through social media or by moderating their own online voice to be perceived as cool.

What is Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

The term “narcissist” has been around since ancient times, but we did not explore the concept of narcissism much until recently. A mental illness characterised by a sense of grandiosity and an inability to empathise with others and their feelings.

A person who has a narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is often unaware that he or she has such a problem. They see themselves as superior to other people and don’t realise how much they hurt others when they are in conflict with them. These patients often have grandiose self-esteem, need admiration from others, become afraid when criticised or criticised by others, lack empathy.

Can Narcissists Be So Cruel?

The answer is yes, especially if you consider that by definition, narcissistic people are strong-willed and emotionless. They tend to use emotional manipulation to control their victims’ emotions and behaviour.

Often, abusers believe themselves above humanity and do not believe it’s human nature to be compassionate or loving. They also think that all other humans are weak-willed creatures who can only think about themselves — nothing more.

When people are able to take an objective look at their own personalities, they can see that they have narcissistic traits. They may be very charming and come across as very nice, but in the recesses of their minds, they will also possess qualities that may make them seem like bullies in the workplace or the classroom.

How to Spot a Dangerous Narcissist & Avoid Becoming one Yourself!

Communication is one of the most important aspects of human relations. The way we communicate with others dictates how they perceive and treat us. If you want to be liked or respected, you will need to make sure that you achieve this through your communication skills.

One of the most frightening and dangerous types of narcissism is self-hate. It is an extreme form of narcissistic behaviour that makes people scorn themselves, devalue themselves and despise their existence.

The key lies in recognising these signs of a narcissist in yourself and not letting your ego get in the way of getting a great career opportunity. Narcissists often make people around them feel like failures when they do fail, but only because they were unable to find a way to motivate them sufficiently.

There are huge differences between the way narcissists act and how the rest of us act. What is worse, they tend to be extremely confident in their abilities. They tend to think that everyone understands them, which is just not true! They tend to think that they are better than other people because they have made it big in life, which is even more false!

How to Treat Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

Being a narcissist is very difficult. The lack of empathy and conviction that you have to have to be one makes it much more difficult.

Although NPD often seen as a disorder of the mind, also expressed in the person’s behaviour. Therefore, it is important to be aware of its presence and take steps to avoid problems. To treat NPD, it is vital to develop an understanding of the disorder. It is not that severe in the early stages, but once escalation occurs, it is quite severe that can be fatal.

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is classified into five main types:

  • overt narcissism
  • covert narcissism
  • antagonistic narcissism
  • communal narcissism
  • malignant narcissism

To treat this disorder properly requires appropriate treatment and psychological counselling. But for many people with NPD, it can be hard to identify and understand what exactly makes them so different from other people.

There are two main treatment options for narcissistic personality disorder — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). CBT, often employed when it comes to treating personality disorders like narcissism. Some people prefer DBT because it can help them overcome their own fear of rejection and thus feel more confident in approaching others.

What is the 4-Factor Model of Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

We all have traits that are generally positive but can also be negative, for example — extreme confidence, egotism. A lot of people are able to hide their negative traits and be well-liked. However, some people take it too far and become extremely arrogant.

The 4-Factor Model of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (4F) is a measure of the self-esteem of narcissists based on five facets: self-absorption, entitlement, grandiosity/arrogance, need for admiration/fear of being criticised or rejected by others and exploitativeness.

How to Deal With People With NPD?

A narcissist’s main goal is to feel superior to others and prove his/her superiority. However, most people with a personality disorder do not express this behaviour in a way that can be easily identified.

When dealing with a narcissistic personality disorder, it is important not to make light of their behaviour and try not to take them too seriously, but instead, try to find out what makes them tick. It is also important that when dealing with such people; you do what you can to protect yourself from situations where they could harm you without even knowing it.

To be able to overcome this problem, you have to first acknowledge the fact that you have a narcissistic personality disorder. This will help you to discuss issues with your therapist. The therapist will guide you through the process of recognising your problems and developing new coping skills.

Treating narcissistic personality disorder is an important step in the right direction for long-term recovery. However, it is not enough to simply “talk” about the disorder with your therapist. You need to learn specific techniques that will help you learn how to overcome it.

Conclusion

We are all surrounded by narcissists. We are bombarded with their voice at every corner of our lives. Thanks to the advent of social media, the phenomenon is even more prominent in our society today.

The easiest way to deal with this problem is to identify, diagnose and treat narcissism in ourselves. It is possible to overcome narcissistic behavior through learning techniques that help us understand ourselves better, recognize harmful behaviors and eventually change our behavior accordingly.

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