Narcissistic Personality Disorder - What Is It?

It's important to first start with what we are here to discuss, Narcissistic Personality Disorder or NPD. As noted in my previous post, NPD "is a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy" (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2022, p. 733). When we know what something is, it is much easier to also identify what it is not. It is not just a partner that is disagreeable, controlling, or manipulative. I use these examples as this is what is often the basis for the label given to many across social platforms. While these behaviors are problematic and may even meet a select criteria for NPD, they do not encompass all of the requirements that must be met to diagnose the disorder. APA (2022) notes that only about 1.6% of the population in the United States has this disorder, which equates to roughly 1 or 2 individuals out of 100.

Social media has become the primary mode of communication for many people. It can help to keep people that live far away or that are just too busy to find the time to meet in person, connected. It can also shed light on traits that people have that are less favorable, like attention-seeking and presenting a grandiose sense of self. NPD is an extreme version of this, and must be in order to categorize it as a clinical disorder (Singh et al., 2018). Despite the cautions I am giving to not view every selfie-taking friend on social media as a narcissist, research is finding that social media exposure and the validation received is acting as an incubator for some of the symptoms. With this increase, it is helpful to start looking for solutions.

Personality and individual differences play a significant role in both the development and treatment of NPD. Extreme extroverted behaviors, struggles in relationships across settings due to maladaptive characteristics, including exploitative behaviors and unwillingness to address other’s needs influences how individuals with NPD relate to others. While all individuals with narcissism are not the same, the personality traits that are often identified as problematic in relationships are aligned with the characteristics. When looking to differentiate, one clue as to the presence of the behaviors to an extreme degree is to identify whether the traits are consistent across settings and relationships.

Weinberg (2024) notes that treatment for NPD can be particularly difficult with individuals that have NPD due to a lack of trust for therapists and a belief that the therapist does not know more than them. While there are other barriers to treatment, as there are for all treatments, I note this particular constraint due to the characteristics of NPD being related to inflated self-view, grandiosity, and arrogant behaviors. As we learn more about NPD, we will also explore more potential treatment options.

Keep This in Mind: Not every toxic trait is narcissism; NPD is rare, complex, and consistent across settings.

References:

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). American Psychiatric Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787

Singh, S., Farley, S. D., & Donahue, J. J. (2018). Grandiosity on display: Social media behaviors and dimensions of narcissism. Personality and Individual Differences, 134, 308–313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.06.039

Weinberg, I. (2024). Building hope for treatment of narcissistic personality disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 80(4), 721–732. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23598