In early Greek mythology, there is the story of a young hunter, Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. When he learned that he could never be with himself, he became so distraught that he drowned. This myth of a man obsessed with his own person gives us a general understanding of narcissistic personality disorder. From personal experience, I can say that certain narcissistic personality traits can have detrimental effects on romantic relationships. A few years ago, I met an attractive young man, who for the purpose of this paper will be referred to as Narcissus. He was slightly older than me, and he had a strong and confident allure. At first, he charmed me and showered me with gifts. Eventually, the relationship …show more content…
In effect, Narcissus became preoccupied with gambling using an online poker game. After only a week of playing, he wholeheartedly believed that he could outsmart any player, and thus collect substantial winnings. He would proudly show me his gameplay and strategies. I noticed that he would ignore any losses as though they had not happened. Yet, he would emphasize any wins and use them to confirm his beliefs. Furthermore, he became engrossed in an idea for a “revolutionary” application for phones. He was convinced that he would make millions off of his idea. However, he had no business plan, no skills to design the application, or partners on board. Admittedly, although I never pointed it out to him, there were numerous legal issues that would make his idea impossible to realize. He expected a constant praise for his “million dollar ideas” and brilliance. In fact, he would reject my opinion on the subject if it was anything but praise, hence my silence on the matter. I often felt like I was there as his sidekick rather than his equal. Since narcissists rank high on fantasy and achievement striving, it explains his behaviors (Butcher et al., 2010). However, it is interesting to note that his life hardly reflected the image of high achievement. At 21 years old, he lived in his parent’s basement, was unemployed, and was failing most of his Cegep …show more content…
Narcissus felt entitled to special treatment from his parents and his teachers. He would get upset if his father did not let him drive the luxury car, and he refused to drive the van instead. Often a topic of conversation during our relationship, he felt that his parents were treating him unfairly. He was also reluctant to apply himself in school. He would boast to me about how he conned the teacher into giving him an extension on an assignment while using a bogus excuse. This happened frequently enough that I began to think he actually enjoyed the feeling of successfully manipulating his teachers so much, that he would purposefully procrastinate on his work. Additionally, he felt entitled to control me; according to him, I was “his”. It started with deleting men from my phone contacts. If they called my phone while he was around, he allowed himself to answer and told them to never call his girlfriend again. Eventually, it escalated to the point where he demanded that I no longer communicate with my boss at work because he was a man. In contrast, Narcissus was allowed to interact with other women. His increasingly controlling attitude and sense of entitlement over me led to many arguments, which inevitably led to no
Upon hearing the word “narcissist”, many people may come to mind--from the original Narcissus to celebrities, it is easy to characterize someone as narcissistic. However, the name Chris McCandless is extremely unlikely to be the primary response to this question. A determined and intelligent young adult, McCandless died in the Alaskan wilderness at just 24. A review of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer mentions the unclear portrayal of McCandless being either an idealist or a narcissist. Yet, due to McCandless’ ambition and motivation, along with his ability to live life on his own terms, McCandless should be regarded a noble idealist rather than a reckless narcissist.
A narcissist is one who believes “he or she is ‘special’ and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special” people. They exploit others for their own advantage, lack empathy, and are “preoccupied with fantasies” or ideals that can be unrealistic. They believe they are the “primary importance in everybody’s life”. (“Narcissistic Personality”) Henry James’ theme in his short story, “The Beast in the Jungle”, is about a man, who is so egotistical and self-absorbed that he misses what life has to offer him, in particular, love, because of the narcissistic behavior he is doomed to live a life of loneliness and misery.
The character, Jay Gatsby from the book “The Great Gatsby” suffers from Narcissistic Borderline Personality Disorder. Narcissistic means that a person has a strong need or want to be successful. People who are considered to be Narcissistic also have a strong need for power, love, and a sense of entitlement (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). People who are considered to have Borderline Personality Disorder are typically moody. They go from happy to angry, and usually have a feeling of emptiness. They are often doing anything they can to avoid real or imagined abandonment (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Classified as part of the Dramatic Personality Disorder, a Narcissistic Personality Disorder is based on the extremity of self-admiration. The origin of the specific personality disorder comes from the Greek root word “narcissism,” which is based on Greek mythology of Narcissus who was a man that fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. The cause of the illness is unknown, however professional mental health doctors believe the condition may be due to how a child was raised. When still in the adolescent years, excessive unconditional or an insufficient amount of love from the parents may be the cause of the disorder. Early signs of the mental illness can be spotted by adulthood. The majority of the people who are diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder show symptoms such as being conceited and garrulous by exaggerating achievements and goals that are unrealistic while ...
Healthy narcissism is a mature, balanced love of oneself coupled with a stable sense of self-worth and self-esteem. Healthy narcissism implies knowledge of one's boundaries and a proportionate and realistic appraisal of one's achievements and traits.10 This implies that a leader, like Stephen Harper for example may be is more likely a narcissist rather than psychopath. He knows his limits, and does not try and overachieve something that is not within reach, keeping a realistic view of the world but still seeing himself on top. Psychopaths rarely seek Narcissistic Supply. Pathological narcissism is wrongly described as too much healthy narcissism (or too much self-esteem).11 Yet, we often find that narcissists abandon their efforts in mid-stream,
When looking at the United States Presidents, we picture the president to embody great leadership skill, who could show strong communication skill, and be in a position to display power. When people elected the president, there are certain quality traits and skill that the president need to display. Some people will view the president as grandiose narcissism, while others may have a different perspective of the president. People who are narcissist, believe their selves to become more important than others. Narcissist people are also overconfident of their decision making, and have difficulty at learning from their mistake (Watts, Lilienfeld, Smith, Miller, Campbell, Waldman, Rubenzer, & Faschingbauer, 2013). There are different types of characteristics of narcissism: vulnerable and grandiose. Vulnerable narcissistic people, who are become anxious when they are not regarded as royalty. People who are vulnerable narcissism shows coming back and forward between feelings superiority and inferiority (Rohmann, Neumann, Herner, & Bierhoff, 2012). While grandiose narcissistic people are types to be viewed as leaders, however narcissistic people are overconfidence and put their needs before others.
Therefore, when the partner provides negative feedback, an individual with narcissistic characteristics becomes upset or angry. They feel that they do not get what they deserve, which stems from their sense of entitlement. Especially individuals with vulnerable narcissistic traits react to this sort of provocation with reactive and displaced aggression (Krizan & Johar, 2015). Vulnerable narcissism is the more covert, introvert, feeling entitled, exploitative, self-absorbed, and aggressive form of narcissism. The more known form of narcissism is grandiose narcissism. This is the more overt, extravert, exhibitionist, high self-esteem, feeling entitled and hostile form of narcissism. It was only until recently that research started to divide narcissism in these two forms of narcissism (Lamkin, Campbell, van Dellen & Miller, 2015, Pincus & Lukowitsky, 2010). It has led to interesting discoveries, such as a gender difference (in the traditional binary form) in what kind of narcissism is shown the most in individuals. For overall narcissism, men show higher
What happens when Narcissism takes over a generation? Is that generation the only generation who is affected? A narcissistic generation does not happen on it 's own. Majority of Millennial 's characteristics are negative but not entirely negative. However, Generation Me only values themselves. Their overemphasis on self-esteem is well intentioned but often leads to narcissism. Both terms can be avoided with proper treatment.
The book talks about narcissistic personality disorder which is mistakenly regarded as a big ego or inflated self-esteem. The latter entails a big psychological condition that affects negativity in marriages and work environment as the victims own self sense of self. According to the book, the victims have self-confidence and shows arrogant behaviors. This is caused by low-esteem and sense of insecurity. The author has been licensed and has nationally creditably on social work for more than 20 years.
The only person the narcissist will ever pity or feel sorry for is him/herself. If the narcissist believes he/she can get away with doing something (even if it's illegal, immoral, or will hurt someone), he/she will do it. At different times, many high profile individuals are classified as a narcissist in the media. The movie “The Wolf Of Wall Street” demonstrates how a rapid success leads to the narcissistic behavior. “Feel good” holiday movies, usually focus on traditional family values of heroism whereas Martin Scorsese in his film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” does the opposite. The movie focus on lavish life of Jordan but it was a true satire for an individual exploring quick fortune and shortcut of getting rich. Although many critics argue that “The Wolf of Wall Street” focuses mostly on the greed of Belfort, his extravagant luxurious lifestyle and portrayal of women as sex toys and leaves viewer with no moral message, I would disagree, as the film does delivers a moral message that rapid success can cause an individual to develop narcissistic behavior, which eventually leads to destruction and the financial message that will be helpful in investments business.
Firstly, what is exactly narcissism? The word ‘narcissism’ was derived from an ancient Greek myth of Narcissus. Narcissus was depicted as a handsome young man who adored his looks very much. Many young maidens fell in love with him but he criticizes them for being too ugly for him. One day, he fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. However, he accidentally drowned himself as he tried to touch his reflection. Hence, the word ‘narcissism’ is usually depicted as a personality that reflects excessive of self-love on oneself. Individuals who are narcissistic are usually described as somebody who is selfish, snobbish or proud. This is because narcissistic individual processes information obtained differently than others. They believe that they deserve more than others since they think they are more superior in every aspect. Due to their sense of grandiosity, they will do anything in order t...
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a mental disorder that is considered to be an impairment in personality functioning, the presence of pathological traits, lack of empathy for others and a need for admiration. This type of personality disorder has some related disorders such as antisocial behaviors, interpersonal exploitation and envy. According to Luo, Cai, & Song (2014), “Narcissism refers to a kind of abundant self-love, characterized by a series of characteristic including self-desire for admiration, fantasies of superiority, hypersensitivity to criticism, exploitation of people, and lack of empathy for others” (p. 1). There have been ongoing discussions on how this type of behavior is processed in the brain. It is not clearly known
Narcissism is synonymous with self-admiration, self-absorption, conceit. One can speculate what makes a person feel so entitled to so much attention and admiration. According to mayoclinic.org, It 's not known what causes narcissistic personality disorder. As with other mental disorders, the cause is likely complex. The cause may be linked to a dysfunctional childhood, such as excessive pampering, extremely high expectations or abuse. Narcissism can start early on in adolescence. Once a child reaches adulthood with narcissistic traits, they walk around like they are they’re the one that holds society together. An example of one person many would portray as a textbook narcissist, Kanye West. Kanye West is obviously a well known rap artist who maintains a personality that is synonymous with cocky and self-obsessed. West feels entitled to world-wide fame and recognition. West went on a radio show hosted by ‘Sway’ of ‘Shade 45’ and proceeded to make wild, compassionate claims about his creative genius; “I am standing up and I 'm telling you. I. Am. Warhol. I am the number one most impactful artist of our generation, in the flesh. I am Shakespeare, Walt Disney. Nike. Google. Now who 's gonna be the Medici Family and stand up and let me create more?” As the reader can tell, West is very passionate and thinks very, very highly of himself. This is a prime example of
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a mental disorder classified in the Diagnostic And Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as one of the major personality disorders. Narcissistic Personality Disorder, as defined by the DSM-V, is the “pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy” that typically begins by early adulthood (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Those individuals who suffer with narcissistic personality disorder often have an inflated sense of self-importance while also displaying other characteristics. Individuals who exhibit five or more of the following traits are often diagnosed with the personality disorder: “(a) a grandiose sense of self-importance; (b) preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love; (c) beliefs of being special and unique; (d) requirements of excessive admiration; (e) a sense of entitlement; (f) interpersonal exploitativeness; (g) lack of empathy; (h) envy of others; and (i) arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes” (Skodel, Bender, & Morey, 2013). Those who display these traits often display them in socially stressful ways that affect their relationships with others and interferes with their professional and personal lives.
Have you ever had the pleasure of working with an individual who was completely full of themselves? This person loved to be the center of attention and the topic of every subject, had extravagant dreams and considered themselves to be a person of many talents. This same person believed that they were a better leader than you would ever be and had no problem telling you that. He or she thought that the best way to gain the admiration of others and receive confirmation of their authority was by “talking down” to those who threaten them. The qualities that I mentioned are all common traits of a narcissist. Narcissist tend to think that they are better leaders than what they actually are according to their peers and coworkers. Proverbs 29:2 says "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn" (King James Bible Online, 2015).