Narcissistic personality disorder symptoms include an inflated opinion of oneself, lack of empathy, and a desire for constant praise. It’s a spectrum disorder and is not typically diagnosed in adolescents. Narcissists lack a strong self-image and seek praise from others to deflect self-loathing. They lack empathy and exploit people for personal gain. Narcissism ultimately represents an inability to understand one’s belonging to the rest of the human race.
Many of the symptoms of
narcissistic personality disorder
they are relatively easy to identify. They include an inflated opinion of oneself, a desire and expectation of constant praise from others, a lack of empathy for others, and a tendency to be harshly critical. Additional features of the condition include fantasizing about success and eventually receiving recognition from others, worrying if possessions, appearance, or self aren’t perfect, exploiting others to get things, and having extremely fragile self-esteem that is marked by a deep self-criticism and fear of shame.
It should be understood that the symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder represent a spectrum. Most people have their moments of excessive self-criticism or grandiosity, of envy of others, or of fragile self-esteem. These do not represent a disorder, provided a person’s relationships with others or ability to function in the world are not constantly affected by these things.
One of the areas where this is the case is when adolescents are being evaluated for narcissistic personality disorder. Many adolescents would appear to have this condition due to their developmental stage and their pivotal work in forming an identity separate from caregivers at this time. Generally, although there are exceptions, narcissistic personality disorder isn’t diagnosed until adulthood.
The symptoms of this disorder make sense when considered together and should be viewed as stemming from an individual’s inability to maintain a strong self-image. People with this disorder constantly look to others to mirror them or provide praise. When they attempt this process on their own, they lack a strong core belief about their own worth and are met with self-criticism instead.
To deflect from constant self-loathing, narcissists focus on outward displays of self-worth, which might include bragging about possessions or accomplishments, seeking friends only among those who will look up to them, or chastising others for having them or being less. Opinions expressed about oneself are often an overestimation of importance or talent leading to unrealistic and unwarranted bragging. Grandiosity and boasting can cause the most confusion because these things sound like high self-esteem, but they actually represent the opposite and are an attempt to get others to not see the central humble self which is a source of perpetual shame.
Some symptoms of this personality disorder further block people from the path of having real relationships with others. Many narcissists marry and sometimes marry other narcissists, which creates a constant mirroring between the couple. Children who fit into this framework can be treated as rewards and, if they are accomplished, can receive affection from narcissistic parents, but only if they meet the parents’ standards.
Probably the most unwelcome symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder are a tendency to lack empathy for others and to use and exploit people for personal gain. Someone with this condition might feign a deep friendship with another to get a job promotion, or they might lose interest in a friend who suddenly has life problems and seems to need sympathy. Narcissism ultimately represents an inability to understand one’s belonging to the rest of the human race, so sympathy with it is impossible. As long as a person with this disorder remains untreated, on the outside she is special and elite and different, and on the inside she is so terribly unworthy that she can never do or be enough to hide her shame about her. At both poles, it is only with little real proximity to each other.
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