Narcissism is everywhere … literally. It permeates the fabric of our culture through social media posts, videos, blogs/vlogs, and podcasts. As with human qualities, narcissism dances into our lives to show us its unique moves and requires us to take note and learn the steps. It interrupts conversations to show us its intellect and coerces us into submitting to its charge. It creeps into our relationships to manipulate circumstances for its own good. It delights us with tantalizing entertainment while educating us at the same time. Narcissism is on full display, and somehow it has managed to create its place as the main focus in our society.
What is narcissism?
By definition, narcissism is defined as having an exceptional interest in or admiration for oneself, especially one’s physical appearance (Collins English Dictionary, 2021). The word itself is derived from a Roman poet named Ovid who wrote the book Metamorphoses. In Book III of Metamorphoses, Ovid shares the mythological story of a character named Narcissus in Echo and Narcissus. From Ovid’s story, the term narcissism is birthed providing the medical profession and people in general a way to label malevolent character traits that have long existed before this epic story even came into existence.
In Ovid’s story, presents with a lack of empathy, a sense of grandiosity, a chronic sense of entitlement, and a chronic need to seek out admiration and validation. The basic plot of the story is that Narcissus falls in love with his reflection and has a long til-death-do-us-part “selfie” moment where he is the primary focus. All he cares about is himself, and unfortunately to his own detriment. He died only knowing love for “self”, and was too self-absorbed to see love being reflected to him from others.
Narcissism vs Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Narcissism is a personality trait that we all possess to some degree. In fact, narcissism is a stage we encounter and pass through in childhood on our way to becoming adults. We all know people who have huge inflated egos, are selfish, and generally mistreat people. Yet, even though these people display such character traits, these traits still don’t make them narcissists.
Many psychologists indicate that narcissism is on a spectrum, and they point out that a person can possess the characteristics of this trait anywhere on the spectrum and still not necessarily be a narcissist. In most cases, narcissism is even considered healthy. However, the problem comes when the traits of narcissism within a person’s life becomes so intense that the person suffers which causes them severe life difficulties, or the person’s suffering causes others around them to suffer too.
The criteria used to assess and diagnose people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). At least five of the nine criteria below must be present for person to be diagnosed with NPD.
- Grandiose sense of self-importance
- Fantasies of success and power
- Believe self to be special and unique
- Requires excessive admiration
- Entitlement
- Interpersonally exploitative
- Lacks empathy
- Envious of others
- Arrogant and haughty behaviours and attitudes
Final Thoughts On Narcissism and NPD
Once a person who presents with NPD has been assessed to determine their having the diagnosis, the person can receive treatment for the disorder [even though most narcissists do not seek treatment because most don’t believe they have a problem]. Depending on who you ask, NPD is either rare or prevalent. I have read that anywhere from 0.5% to 6% of the U.S. population is diagnosed as being a narcissist having NPD. Personally, I think the percentage of true narcissists is far greater since the majority of them do not go looking for help. Why would they? Their self-inflated egos don’t allow for any self-reflection.
Lastly, the overall interest in narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder(NPD)continues to grow. The result of this overall interest could be based on various and unlimited factors. These factors might be attributed to the increase of its prevalence as a topic on social media and other various platforms or its alarming cause for concern for the number of people who have been and are victims of narcissists. Whatever the case, narcissism and NPD are two topics with staying power, and the more we learn about them, the better off we will be in protecting ourselves from remaining the victims of narcissists and those exhibiting narcissistic traits.
Reference
Collins English dictionary. (1994). Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers.
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