NARCISSISM: THE MOST MISUSED WORD IN PSYCHOLOGY — PART 8
Dr. Peter Salerno
6,138 views
Someone tells you they're a narcissist. Should that reassure you?
There's a genre of content that has done extremely well over the last few years — the self-aware narcissist. Someone describes their own manipulation tactics, explains what they do to people, tells you what to watch for. And the implication, usually unstated, is that the awareness itself means something. Progress. Honesty. Maybe even safety. The real question is what awareness actually does to a trait, in anyone. The disclosure may actually be consistent with the trait, not evidence against it.
Also covered: why narcissism is an ego-syntonic disorder, why lack of empathy isn't the defining feature but is contained in the definition, and why shame is the wrong word. Shame turns inward. It produces withdrawal, self-blame, excessive apology, over-correction. What we actually observe is entitlement, rage, devaluation, and discard, which is more in line with self-pity than shame.
Then the exception I promised in episode one — Trait structure recovers across 56 nations and 28 languages. It shows up early and stays. It's heritable. It predicts outcomes years later.
References:
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.).
Hopwood, C. J., Mulay, A. L., & Waugh, M. H. (Eds.). (2019). The DSM-5 alternative model for personality disorders: Integrating multiple paradigms of personality assessment. Routledge.
Kealy, D., Goodman, G., Rasmussen, B., Weideman, R., & Ogrodniczuk, J. S. (2017). Therapists' perspectives on optimal treatment for pathological narcissism. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 8(1), 35–45.
Lester, G. W. (2024). Borderline, narcissistic, antisocial, and histrionic personality disorders: Effective treatments for challenging clients. PESI Publishing.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1997). Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist, 52(5), 509–516.
Paris, J. (2023). Fads and fallacies in psychiatry. Cambridge University Press.
Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R., Caspi, A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2007). The power of personality: The comparative validity of personality traits, socioeconomic status, and cognitive ability for predicting important life outcomes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2(4), 313–345.
Salerno, P. (2024). The nature and nurture of narcissism: Understanding narcissistic personality disorder from the perspective of gene–environment interaction.
Schmitt, D. P., Allik, J., McCrae, R. R., & Benet-Martínez, V. (2007). The geographic distribution of Big Five personality traits: Patterns and profiles of human self-description across 56 nations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38(2), 173–212.
Yakeley, J. (2018). Current understanding of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder. BJPsych Advances, 24(5), 305–315.
#narcissism #selfawarenarcissist #narcissistic #NPD #personalitydisorders
20 Comments
Also, the clarity of antagonism vs agreeableness, in the way you have described it through this series, is like shining a light on the whole patterning of it, where all the pieces of that can then be seen. Thank you. I look forward to you next series.
And now I fully understand, I'm leaving this sad man who will never change.
He knows he's difficult and cruel with a sadistic streak but he doesn't care.
Scary but true.
My sister married (and divorced) a narcissist and is still being tormented by this abysmally entitled failure of a man through the way he's treating their adolescent daughter. The psychological abuse he dishes out to his own daughter is diabolical. My neice is seeing a psychotherapist, but so far it hasn't helped her realize or fully acknowledge to herself just how unacceptable her father's behaviour towards her is. The deliberate humiliation, the sadism, the constant provocations are painful to watch, even at second hand, hearing about it all from my sister. 😢
Thank you so much for your work! ❤👍❤
NARCISSISM: THE MOST MISUSED WORD IN PSYCHOLOGY — PART 8
Dr. Peter Salerno
6,138 views
Someone tells you they're a narcissist. Should that reassure you?
There's a genre of content that has done extremely well over the last few years — the self-aware narcissist. Someone describes their own manipulation tactics, explains what they do to people, tells you what to watch for. And the implication, usually unstated, is that the awareness itself means something. Progress. Honesty. Maybe even safety. The real question is what awareness actually does to a trait, in anyone. The disclosure may actually be consistent with the trait, not evidence against it.
Also covered: why narcissism is an ego-syntonic disorder, why lack of empathy isn't the defining feature but is contained in the definition, and why shame is the wrong word. Shame turns inward. It produces withdrawal, self-blame, excessive apology, over-correction. What we actually observe is entitlement, rage, devaluation, and discard, which is more in line with self-pity than shame.
Then the exception I promised in episode one — Trait structure recovers across 56 nations and 28 languages. It shows up early and stays. It's heritable. It predicts outcomes years later.
References:
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.).
Hopwood, C. J., Mulay, A. L., & Waugh, M. H. (Eds.). (2019). The DSM-5 alternative model for personality disorders: Integrating multiple paradigms of personality assessment. Routledge.
Kealy, D., Goodman, G., Rasmussen, B., Weideman, R., & Ogrodniczuk, J. S. (2017). Therapists' perspectives on optimal treatment for pathological narcissism. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 8(1), 35–45.
Lester, G. W. (2024). Borderline, narcissistic, antisocial, and histrionic personality disorders: Effective treatments for challenging clients. PESI Publishing.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1997). Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist, 52(5), 509–516.
Paris, J. (2023). Fads and fallacies in psychiatry. Cambridge University Press.
Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R., Caspi, A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2007). The power of personality: The comparative validity of personality traits, socioeconomic status, and cognitive ability for predicting important life outcomes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2(4), 313–345.
Salerno, P. (2024). The nature and nurture of narcissism: Understanding narcissistic personality disorder from the perspective of gene–environment interaction.
Schmitt, D. P., Allik, J., McCrae, R. R., & Benet-Martínez, V. (2007). The geographic distribution of Big Five personality traits: Patterns and profiles of human self-description across 56 nations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38(2), 173–212.
Yakeley, J. (2018). Current understanding of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder. BJPsych Advances, 24(5), 305–315.
#narcissism #selfawarenarcissist #narcissistic #NPD #personalitydisorders