Psychoanalytic Approach to Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Understanding Narcissism from the Psychoanalytical Approach to Personality Throughout recent years, it has become pretty obvious that we are living in an age of entitlement where “cosmetic surgery, status-related debt, and misrepresented Facebook profiles” (Twenge) are on the rise. Nothing seems to matter more than being the best looking, most successful, or most popular person out of all the people we know. Studies have shown that unrealistic expectations, materialism, law empathy, self-esteem, self-focus, arrogance, etc, have all increased. All of these traits are related to symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), a personality disorder in which the individual is described as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal capability, power, importance and vanity.
On Narcissism Narcissism can be defined as “an erotic gratification derived from admiration of one’s own physical or mental attributes.” The use of the term “narcissism” comes from a mythological Greek named Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection in a lake and eventually dies out of grief for having fallen in love with someone that did not exist outside of himself. Currently, the term is used to describe people with excessive egotism, pride, selfishness and self-centeredness. Although this definition of narcissism may sound negative and unappealing, there is a certain level of self-love that is considered as healthy. We all need a bit of narcissism to be able to believe in ourselves and believe we can succeed and do anything. However, when taken too far, healthy narcissism can become a destructive disorder.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder Narcissistic personality disorder occurs in about 1% of the general population. It is a mental disorder in which a person is excessively narcissistic. Somebody with this disorder has an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration. They believe that they are superior to others and have very
On Narcissism Narcissism can be defined as “an erotic gratification derived from admiration of one’s own physical or mental attributes.” The use of the term “narcissism” comes from a mythological Greek named Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection in a lake and eventually dies out of grief for having fallen in love with someone that did not exist outside of himself. Currently, the term is used to describe people with excessive egotism, pride, selfishness and self-centeredness. Although this definition of narcissism may sound negative and unappealing, there is a certain level of self-love that is considered as healthy. We all need a bit of narcissism to be able to believe in ourselves and believe we can succeed and do anything. However, when taken too far, healthy narcissism can become a destructive disorder.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder Narcissistic personality disorder occurs in about 1% of the general population. It is a mental disorder in which a person is excessively narcissistic. Somebody with this disorder has an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration. They believe that they are superior to others and have very
References: Burger, J.M. (2008). Personality. (8th ed.). Belmont, California: Wadsworth/Cengage. Cherry, K. (n.d.). The history of narcissistic personality disorder. Retrieved from http:// psychology.about.com/od/psychiatricdisorders/ Freud, S. (1914). On narcissism: An introduction. London: Karnac Books Ltd. McLeod, S. A. (2007). Psychoanalysis - simply ssychology. Retrieved from http:// www.simplypsychology.org/psychoanalysis.html Twenge, J. M. (1971). The narcissism epidemic: Living in the age of entitlement. New York: Free Press.