Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Causes And Treatment
Does it always become a topic of conversation? Do you feel you have certain rights or privileges? Do you despise others? These are classic signs of a narcissistic personality disorder. Do you know someone who feels like they are always right and everyone else is wrong? Are you arrogant, lack empathy and think you are very important? That person may have this disorder. In this PsychologyFor article, we will talk about the Narcissistic personality disorder: causes and treatment.
He narcissistic personality disorder It is a disorder that affects approximately 1% of the population with a higher prevalence in men than women. It is characterized by exaggerated arrogance, lack of empathy and a great need for admiration. The main marker of narcissistic personality is the grandiosity. They care about power, prestige, vanity and believe they deserve special treatment.
Narcissistic personality disorder should not be confused with a person with high self-esteem. A person with high self-esteem can be humble, while a narcissist cannot. They are selfish, presumptuous and ignore the feelings and needs of others. Furthermore, the disorder affects the person’s life in a negative way. In general, the person may be unhappy with their life and disappointed when others do not admire them or do not give them the special treatment or attention they need. All areas of life are affected (work, personal, social…), but the person is not able to realize that their behaviors negatively affect their relationships. People are not comfortable with a narcissistic person and they will feel dissatisfied with their work, their social life, etc.
Symptoms and characteristics of narcissistic personality disorder
Some of Symptoms and characteristics of a narcissistic personality are:
Concern for fantasies, successes…
Belief of great importance, they only feel understood and relate to people who they consider to have a high status.
They need and demand continuous admiration.
Exaggeration of your achievements and abilities.
Feeling with rights or privileges.
Being envious of others and an excessive belief that others are envious of you.
Think and talk most of the time about yourself.
Set unrealistic goals.
Expectations that others will do you special favors.
Believing that no one can question your motives and demands.
Taking advantage of others to get what they want without remorse.
Arrogance, haughtiness.
Easily rejected and hurt.
Lust for power.
Respond to criticism with shame, indignation and humiliation.
Narcissistic personality disorder: causes
There is no single defined cause of narcissistic personality disorder, but researchers agree that there are environmental and genetic factors that play a role in the development of the disorder.
Among some of the genetic factors, it has been seen that people with narcissistic personality have less gray matter in the left insula, the part of the brain related to empathy, emotional regulation, compassion and cognitive functioning.
Many of the narcissistic personality traits are formed in the normal development of the person. Researchers believe that the onset of the disorder may occur when a conflict occurs in interpersonal development. Some examples of contextual factors that can disrupt the phases of “normal” development include:
Learn manipulative behaviors from parents or friends.
Being excessively praised for appropriate behaviors and excessively criticized for inappropriate behaviors.
Suffering abuse in childhood.
Inconsistent parental care.
Being very spoiled by parents, friends, family…
Being excessively admired without realistic feedback.
Receiving a lot of compliments from parents or others about your physical appearance or abilities.
Narcissistic personality disorder: treatment
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is one of the keys to approaching the treatment of narcissistic personality. It is often used to help the person relate to other people in a more adaptive way and gain a greater understanding of their own and other people’s emotions.
If a person has a narcissistic personality, you probably have not heard of a diagnosis. Studies have shown that they do not usually receive treatment and if they do, the progress is slow, because it is based on personality traits, which have been formed over the years. Therefore, years of psychotherapy are needed to make changes. The changes are aimed at accept responsibility for your actions already learn ways of relating more suitable. This includes:
Accept and maintain relationships with colleagues and family.
Tolerate criticism and failures.
Understand and regulate feelings.
Minimize the desire to achieve unrealistic goals.
Initially, it was thought that group therapy It was not appropriate because group therapy requires empathy, patience, and the ability to relate and “connect” with others, something in which the person with narcissistic personality disorder has deficits. However, studies have shown that long-term group therapy can benefit them by providing a safe context where they can talk about their limits, receive and give feedback, and increase awareness of themselves and their problems.
The cognitive behavioral therapySpecifically, schema-focused therapy has had good results. It focuses on repairing narcissistic schemas and the coping strategies associated with them, confronting narcissistic cognitive styles (perfectionism…).
Medication
There is no specific treatment for this disorder but, sometimes, these people may present with depression or anxiety, and psychotropic drugs may be useful. People with a narcissistic personality can abuse drugs or alcohol, so treating addictive problems can be beneficial in this disorder.
This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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