Narcisistic Personality Disorder

These people show an exaggerated sense of self importance preoccupied with receiving attention.



People with narcissistic  personality disorder think highly of themselves- beyond their real abilities. They tend to overestimate their abilities and often tend to admire themselves on small accomplishments. Because of their preoccupation they have limited success, power,intelligence and beauty.



They  consider themselves different from others and deserve special treatment. Narcissistic personality disorder individuals have an unreasonable sense of self- importance. They are so much preoccupied with themselves that they lack sensitivity and compassion for other people.



Individuals with this disorder have lack of empathy and so have difficulty recognizing feelings of others. They are generally uncomfortable until someone admires them. Their exaggerated feelings and their fantasies of greatness, called grandiosity, create a number of negative attributes.



They tend to use or exploit others for their own interests. They become arrogant and aggressive when confronted with other people. Because they often fail to live up to their own expectations, they are frequently depressed.

Narcissistic Personality disorder arises from a profound failure of emphatic mirroring by the parents at child’s early age.



As a result of which, child remains fixated with self- centeredness. Because of this they lose touch with the social world and also develops unhealthy relationships. Vocational functioning too, becomes very low.



In addition , the child or an adult becomes involved in an endless and fruitless search for the ideal person who can meet their unfulfilled emphatic needs.

Prevalence of this disorder varies from 2 to 16% in clinical population and 1% in the general population. From sociological viewpoint this disorder primarily is a consequence of large scale social changes, including competitiveness, individualism and success.

As per diagnostic criteria 5 or more features should be present at the time of diagnosis. They are as follows:

1. Grandiose sense of self importance
2. Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success,beauty,power.
3. Requires excessive admiration
4. Exploits interpersonal relationships.
5. Shows arrogance, haughty behaviors and attitudes
6. Often envious of others or believe others are envious of him or her.
7. The focus of therapy is often on individual grandiosity and their hypersensitivity to evaluation and lack of empathy toward others.

Cognitive therapy aims at replacing their fantasies with day- to-day pleasurable experiences that are attainable. Also ,coping strategies such as relaxation training are used to help them face and accept criticism. Helping them to focus on the feelings of others is also a goal. Treatment is also given for depression as individuals with this disorder are vulnerable to severe depressive episodes.