Narcissism - A Self-Love Defense Mechanism
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a Mental Health Issue
Apr 16, 2009
The narcissist can be hard to recognize because these individuals spend a lot of time creating a facade in order to protect their ego.
Many narcissists are unstable and usually are the people who frequently change their jobs, where they live and their intimate partners. These individuals tend to avoid deep friendships and commitments.
Narcissism is a psychological condition which is simply defined as a total obsession with self. This condition is characterized by a lack of empathy for others, sadistic or destructive tendencies towards other people and a compulsion to satisfy personal needs without regard for others. People who suffer from narcissism are usually introverted in social situations.
The narcissistic personality is disorganized yet rigid. These people find solace in certainty, what they are familiar with and what they anticipate. This balances their inner precariousness and volatility.
Antecedents to Narcissism
There is a common psychological model that's used by many psychoanalysts that says almost all humans begin life with a small degree of narcissism. A baby has a significant physical and emotional needs that must be attended to by others.
Eventually, a healthy child learns that the world is much larger than they are and their needs are not always attended to when they decide. Parents who always immediately attend to their baby crying, and eventually constantly attend to their toddlers desires, are contributing to a condition called primary narcissism.
Primary narcissism is thought to be part of the growth process. As children grow, they focus their energy and attention away from the parents and to the world around them.
If the child experiences a severe disappointment or senses abandonment, they may regress to the primary narcissism stage as a self-defense mechanism. The child may return to “baby talk,” whining or demanding behavior until he/she finds a way to deal with the disappointment. With strong parental guidance, the child will learn solid coping skills to effectively deal with life's disappointments and develop into a responsible adult.
For those who haven't learned coping skills, they can develop secondary narcissism in adulthood.
Secondary narcissism may be diagnosed as narcissistic personality disorder. Narcissism is a primary emotional self-defense mechanism that has some socially damaging side-effects.
A narcissist, faced with pressures such as family or work, can implode psychologically and retreat to childhood behaviors as in primary narcissism. The feelings of others have no place in the narcissistic mind. A true narcissist will more than likely detach from others and become very self-absorbed.
Is Narcissism Treatable?
Psychotherapy can treat narcissism, but many sufferers believe they have no problem. Like any other affliction, it must be self-recognized and the afflicted person must want the the help.
Narcissism gets bad publicity as the general population views this as a character flaw, not a mental health issue.
Developmentally, those who end up with narcissistic personality disorder have had negative developmental experiences. They have been neglected children. These are also the children who have been over-evaluated and over-inflated and have not encountered much constructive criticism with their school work and other things they have done.
Sadly, a trail of disastrous relationships and massive instability is left in the wake of a person suffering with narcissistic personality disorder. Perhaps when narcissism is widely accepted as a mental health disorder, the fear of getting help will not be as entrenched as it is now.
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