Understanding Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Causes and Effects

Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a mental disorder that is considered to be an impairment in personality functioning, the presence of pathological traits, lack of empathy for others and a need for admiration. This type of personality disorder has some related disorders such as antisocial behaviors, interpersonal exploitation and envy. According to Luo, Cai, & Song (2014), “Narcissism refers to a kind of abundant self-love, characterized by a series of characteristic including self-desire for admiration, fantasies of superiority, hypersensitivity to criticism, exploitation of people, and lack of empathy for others” (p. 1). There have been ongoing discussions on how this type of behavior is processed in the brain. It is not clearly known

The symptoms are numerous in nature and most of us may have experiences with these types of personalities without quite understanding what may have been the driving forces behind the behaviors. Some of the most common symptoms are; believing one is better than others, exaggerating achievements, needing constant praise, taking advantage of others or being envious of others’ achievements if they are perceived to be better than his achievements. Individuals with this personality disorder come across as conceited, boastful or pretentious. They often monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on other people perceived as inferior. They may seem to have a sense of entitlement and when they do not receive the special treatment to which they feel entitled to, they may become very impatient or angry. According to Lipowska & Lipowski (2015), “The need for admiration reflects the need of being noted, admired, complemented, and an element of entitlement” (p. 6). Also, they may insist on having the best of everything and justify this by claiming they are taking care of themselves first, regardless of the needs of others around

First, it must be identified that the affected person is excessively making references to others to demonstrate self-appraisal and self-deflations. These two extreme emotions demonstrate a lack of self-esteem and potential for self-identification issues. Next, if a person is setting goals based on the approval or acceptance of others, then the person becomes unaware of his or her own motivations, rather they are more focused on others perception of them with the achieved goals. Lastly, a lack of empathy or the need of others unless there are intimate relationships are largely superficial unless that relationship fulfills the needs of the affected person with the