What Is Pathological Narcissism?

The US Manual of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness defines pathological narcissism as follows: diffuse "omnipotence" that needs praise, manifested in fantasy and behavior, lacks empathy, and often begins in early childhood , And continues to the present, and meets the following five or more criteria:

Pathological narcissism

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The US Manual of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness defines pathological narcissism as follows: diffuse "omnipotence" that needs praise, manifested in fantasy and behavior, lacks empathy, and often begins in infancy , And continues to the present, and meets the following five or more criteria:

Chinese name

Pathological narcissism

Foreign name

Pathological narcissism

First, exaggerate achievements and talents, and look forward to being regarded as the best without corresponding achievements;

Second, bewildered by the illusion of unlimited success, power, talent, beauty, or ideal love;

Third, believe that you are special and unique, and believe that you can only be understood by other people who are equally special or high status, or should be associated with the same kind of people as above;

Fourth, demand excessive praise;

Fifth, there is a sense of privilege, such as unreasonably expecting special good treatment or others expecting automatic obedience from him or her;

Sixth, to grab the interests of others in order to achieve their own goals;

Seventh, lack the ability to empathize and have no desire to know or agree with the emotions and needs of others;

Eighth, often jealous or believe that others are jealous of themselves;

Ninth, show an arrogant behavior or attitude.

Due to lack of empathy, the narcissist does not consider others' thoughts at all, but reflects his will on others in a wishful thinking manner. Since you believe that you are the only one, your wishes should be completely satisfied immediately, and the thoughts of others should not exceed your imagination.

For example, when a patient sees his psychotherapist by the side of the road and eats early, he complains in the later treatment: "I never expected that you, as a student studying abroad, would also meet Those civilians eat by the road! You should be listening to elegant music in a Western restaurant, eating bread with a knife and fork dipped in butter. "

The standard for such people to see people is whether they conform to their imagination. Therefore, when the reality shows that there is a gap with their own ideas, the pathological narcissist will escape reality, stay away from the crowd and society, or for the inner "self "Love image" made extraordinary behavior, such as serial killers who said after the killing that they were sent by God to end the suffering of these people, or that it didn't matter that they had opened a funeral home without a business permit.

In fact, we often see people with similar personality characteristics in life, such as actors or artists, who have high IQ and beautiful appearance, have better work ability and social adaptability, and have better ability in public places. Personality evaluation, but this does not prevent them from becoming addicted to praise. This may be due to a career, or it should be said that their personality prompted them to choose a career. Healthy narcissism can make people confident and courageous to complete the cause, but because narcissism can lead to the neglect of others' feelings, sometimes it is easy to have problems in developing close relationships. Pathological narcissism always comes at the cost of severe interpersonal relationships.

Narcissism is intoxicating, and some narcissism is not only harmless, but also brings out a moving story: Nasis died of obsessed with his own image, and at the same time, there can be a perfect "band gradually widens and eventually regrets, for Eliminate people. " Pathological narcissism is based on the pursuit of their own desires based on contempt for the value and self-esteem of others, and they do not feel that they need treatment.

Psychotherapy requires considerable effort for such patients. Freud even inferred that narcissists could not be treated because empathy was difficult to produce! It is now known that pathological narcissism is needed and can be further adapted to society through psychotherapy.