The term "narcissism" first appeared when it was used by the British scientist H. Alice. He described a form of personality disorder of a defective type and correlated it with the well-known legend of Narcissus, who lived in ancient Greece. He loved himself so much that against this background he was cursed and died.
A little later, Sigmund Freud decided to consider the narcissistic type of personality. The well-known psychoanalyst created a theory according to which narcissistic syndrome manifests itself to one degree or another in every person, including his sexual behavior. He suggested that in youth, every child feels more narcissistic. Thus, narcissism is an integral part of the character of any person. According to Freud, this form of behavior is not able to harm others, but only on condition that the child develops in a correct and harmonious way.
Who is Narcissus
When considering the concept of narcissistic mechanisms, first of all, it is worth paying attention to the origins of the word itself. As already mentioned at the beginning, according to legend, a young man named Narcissus was so in love with himself that he did not hesitate to revel in his splendor. The guy enjoyed talking with young girls who enthusiastically talked about his amazing appearance. However, he himself never listened to others and did not try to think about how they feel.
Once Narcissus spent time on the banks of a stream and suddenly saw his own reflection in the water. He fell in love with his beauty so much that he simply could not tear himself away from his image. The guy gradually withered from hunger and thirst. In the end, he died.
After his death, at the place where he admired himself, flowers of unusual beauty began to grow, which they began to call daffodils. Since then, this name has become a household name. The behavior of the ancient Greek handsome man fully describes the characteristics of people who today are called narcissistic personalities.
This means excessive self-esteem and excessive self-love. This term is a complete reflection of a person’s propensity for excessive pride.
general information
Narcissistic personalities strive to always be the center of attention of others. They must show everyone how exclusive and individual they are.
Psychologists have been studying this state of man for many years. Experts show a huge amount of interest in him, because many of them care about how psychologically safe people of this type are.
The fact is that very often such selfish natures, who seem to be 100% self-confident, actually hide a completely different personality under this bright shell. Very often in psychological practice there are cases in which it becomes clear that egoists have a huge number of complexes, which they simply try to compensate for by oppressing others. In this case, we are talking about a hidden narcissistic type.
In psychology, many questions arise regarding this term and the disorder itself. Is narcissism a way to hide my fears? Or is it an innate confidence of a person in his impeccability? To answer this question is very difficult to this day. However, there is a lot of useful information that will allow you to understand this interesting type of personality in more detail.
How to recognize a daffodil
Any person in a normal state has tender feelings for himself. However, for some individuals, such narcissism begins to simply go off scale. Such people are in constant self-love. In this case, we are already talking about a pathological narcissistic personality disorder.
The egoist is that person who is exclusively interested in his own person. Moreover, he completely ignores the interests and desires of others. In this case, we are talking about the possibility of self-affirmation at the expense of completely different people.
The most striking distinguishing feature of a narcissistic person is a hypertrophied and overly exaggerated sense of self-esteem and love for his person. However, speaking of such personalities, one more important aspect should not be ruled out. It must be understood that the ultimate goal of the narcissus is self-gratification.
It would be logical to assume that any person strives for this. However, the daffodil will be ready for any tricks and will go over the heads, only in order to amuse his vanity. Very often in psychology, a parallel is drawn between egoism and narcissism. Also, some experts attribute this feature of behavior to psychopathy. Accordingly, in this case, narcissism is the definition of one of the scales of the psychopathic state, which is used in the process of research activity. There are 12 signs of a narcissistic type of personality. They help to quickly figure out the egoist. It is worth familiarizing yourself with them in more detail.
12 signs of a narcissistic personality type
There are some nuances according to which you can identify the daffodil:
- He will never pay attention to constructive or any other criticism from the people around him.
- This person considers himself perfect.
- For him, everyone around him is only a servant (or a laughing stock in the event that they do not meet his high criteria).
- He demands and expects increased attention to himself.
- A narcissistic person needs constant praise.
- He is sincerely convinced that everyone around him constantly thinks about him and envy him because he is an ideal for everyone.
- If someone does not share his point of view, then this sincerely surprises him.
- He boasts of even the most stupid and imaginary achievements, as he is sure that he has accomplished something meaningful.
- During the conversation, he uses pronounced sarcasm and often offends others.
- He is obsessed with financial issues.
- For Narcissus, his own status is very important, so he will never communicate with ordinary people.
- He is sure that he absolutely does not have any shortcomings, but only exclusively dignity.
Thus, it is not difficult to identify a person with a narcissistic personality type. Therefore, when meeting with such an individual who is prone to excessive self-love and increased selfishness, it is safe to say that he has a similar defect.
However, it’s worthwhile to understand why exactly people have such a change in the perception of their own “I”.
Reason for narcissism
In this case, we are not talking about congenital disorder. People become daffodils as they grow older and become aware of themselves as individuals. This means that at some point a failure occurs, and the person decides to develop only certain characteristics.
As they grow older, a person must learn to be responsible, independent. At the same time, his moodiness and selfishness develops. However, in a narcissistic child, all positive character traits fade into the background. Hypertrophic development of selfishness occurs. Accordingly, such character traits begin to be laid down from early childhood.
There is also a theory that to some extent the development of such a disorder is influenced by genetics. Of course, if the parents of the daffodil are also very selfish individuals, then there is a high probability that their child will grow up to be just as narcissistic. Therefore, in order that the baby does not begin to cultivate narcissistic personality traits in himself, you need to pay attention to him. Parenting requires tremendous effort on the part of parents.
How to prevent the development of narcissism
Since this disorder begins to affect a person from early childhood, it is necessary to adhere to some recommendations that will help to raise a worthy person from a child.
First of all, you need to be able to praise your child and prove your love to him. However, do not rejoice in any of his actions. Praise should only be if the child has really done something meaningful. If parents every second admire everything that their baby does, then this is precisely what can lead to a hypertrophied sense of their own exclusivity in this world.
Psychologists recommend that parents, proving their tender feelings to children, never say phrases from the series "I love you because you are so smart, beautiful, etc." In order for the child to feel loved and desired, it is enough to simply recognize the fact that he is loved. You do not need to constantly instill in him the feeling that he can be loved only for certain qualities. Also, do not completely try to fulfill all the wishes and whims of the baby. If he constantly receives everything he wants, then in adult life the child will expect the same attitude to himself from the outside world.
Also, experts recommend not exaggerating the achievements of your baby in a particular area. If he is a good student, there is no need to say that he is an excellent pupil, etc. Such an unjustified overestimation of self-esteem can negatively affect the correct perception of the world by the kid.
In order to prevent the development of symptoms of narcissistic disorder, it is necessary to exclude the attitude to the child as to the center of the universe. He must understand that other households need attention and care. It is necessary to instill in him these feelings, and not just focus his life on his desires.
However, one cannot go to extremes. If a child is ignored or completely attempted to humiliate him psychologically, then this may well lead to the opposite effect. If in early childhood it develops too many complexes, then in the end this will lead to the fact that he will develop a narcissistic defense. He will behave selfishly, since he has not received the proper love and attention.
It is necessary to teach the child to be sociable. If he walks on the court with other kids, he should respect them and not react aggressively if someone made him this or that remark. By planting these character traits, you can be sure that the child will grow up to be a decent person.
How narcissism manifests itself based on the gender component
Most people believe that narcissism is a trait that is unique to women. However, you need to understand that if a girl looks in the mirror for a long time, this does not mean that she suffers from personality disorder. It must be understood that among the fair sex, a similar pathology manifests itself in a slightly different form.
For example, if in building a relationship with a representative of the opposite sex, she will give preference not to the guy she likes best, but to the one who indulges her whims more, then in this case we are talking about selfishness and excessive ambitiousness.
Often in women, narcissistic traits are manifested during the period when the partners have a small child. As a rule, in this case, the mother begins to try to realize all unfulfilled dreams through the baby. She is so proud of him that this pride passes on to her. Mother believes that only thanks to her baby succeeded. Therefore, very often on the playground you can hear the conversations of young mothers who proudly talk about the achievements of their children.
If we consider male narcissism, then, as a rule, this type of disorder is most clearly manifested in youth. If a guy stands for a long time at the mirror and pays too much attention to his hair, body, etc., then this is a manifestation of narcissism.
If we are talking about men who have already taken place as husbands and fathers, then in this case it is worth paying attention to their behavior with children. As a rule, such people begin to spend less time with babies, because they experience a very strong sense of jealousy, realizing that now the place of the "center of the universe" is occupied by a new member of the family. As a rule, when daffodils acquire families, personality disorder begins to move to a new level. As a rule, they rarely communicate with their near and dear ones, as they are sure that the whole world should revolve only around them.
If the daffodil could not find his soul mate, then over the years he will gradually begin to realize that perhaps he is not as irresistible as it might have seemed to him before. However, you can often find 40-year-old bachelors who are absolutely unclaimed by women of the opposite sex, who continue to claim that they are simply in search of an ideal that could correspond to them.
Types of Narcissistic Disorder
It is immediately worth noting that modern psychoanalysts to this day continue to consider this so-called pathology. Narcissism is still a rather mysterious phenomenon, and it is being studied by scientists around the world. However, several varieties of this personality disorder have already been identified today.
Narcissism happens:
- Constructive. In this case, we are talking about a state when a person is characterized by quite adequate self-esteem and narcissism. This means that the person loves himself to a fairly high degree, however, at the same time, she is still able to interact with the outside world. Nevertheless, due to increased self-confidence when applying pressure from others, a person can behave quite aggressively.
- Destructive. With this type of narcissistic character, a much more serious mental disorder is observed in a person. In this case, the person is not able to really evaluate his own significance, as well as achievements. People of this type are pathologically in need of their importance being confirmed every minute by the outside world.
- Scarce. This form of narcissism is expressed in the fact that a person is not able to evaluate himself as an integral person. This type of disorder is different from the previous ones. Such people are very dependent on the opinions of others. Therefore, they behave selfishly, as they believe that in this case the society will respect them more.
- Perverse. In this case, we are talking about the so-called malignant condition. A person can be overcome by absolutely inadequate, sometimes even obsessive ideas. Such people behave aggressively in the most unexpected situations. They are also characterized by somatic disorders.
Is narcissism a disease or trait
On the one hand, this syndrome can really be regarded as a feature of a person. This is due to the fact that, according to many teachings, egoism has been characteristic of any person from the moment of its appearance in this world. However, on the other hand, we are talking about a complete personality disorder, as a person begins to perceive himself as something higher and more significant than others. If we are talking about progressing narcissism, then in this case it is, of course, a disease that can turn an individual's existence into an unbearable life, and also negatively affect his whole environment.
If this or that person has excessive self-esteem, then in this case you need to contact a psychologist who will help you learn to perceive yourself in a normal way. This, of course, is a narcissistic personality disorder that can be adequately treated. If the therapy is successful, then the person has a chance of a normal existence.
There is also a theory that narcissism is a defect in the behavioral model. Nevertheless, there are many other opinions. For example, some experts describe narcissism as a syndrome. Accordingly, these scientists consider this state of the human psyche in terms of psychoanalysis. Even Sigmund Freud proved that such manifestations are characteristic of any person.
However, it is worth noting that earlier in the course of their research, scientists simply did not consider the symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder as a dangerous condition. However, over time, everything has changed. Today, narcissism really does not even become a disorder, but a complete mental illness. And in this case we are talking about pathology, which can lead to a rather dangerous condition. For example, if the daffodil does not feel satisfaction and does not see that others admire him, then in this case he may fall into a deep depression.
Based on this, you need to take this problem very seriously and consider ways to solve it.
Diagnostics
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As a rule, egoism is quite easily revealed after the first conversation. Usually a person with a similar defect categorically denies having such a problem. The diagnosis is complicated by the fact that the patient inadequately responds to the recommendations of a specialist and behaves quite sharply in case of criticism. However, the doctor must conduct all necessary tests in order to exclude the possibility of antisocial behavior or pathology, which begins to border on a hysterical disorder.
You need to understand that a person with a narcissistic personality type is by and large a sick patient. Therefore, it is understandable that he does not understand that he is suffering from some unpleasant pathology that he needs to exclude. By and large, this condition can be compared with alcoholism. However, as in the case of the use of strong drinks, this problem must be solved immediately.
How to fight narcissism
In this case, it all depends on the individual situation. If we are talking about a chronic mental disorder, then the treatment will be long and rather difficult. Although a person needs psychological help, he still does not perceive himself as a problem person. For him, a narcissistic attitude towards others is a blessing.
Therefore, such people do not voluntarily go to treatment. The specialist will have to work hard to find an approach to such a patient.
As a rule, psychologists try to demonstrate favor and deepest respect for the patient. This bribes him, and he comes to the next appointment in order to receive the next portion of flattery.
Good results are shown by psychotherapy. Classes can be held both individually and in group form. First of all, the essence of the problem is explained to the patients, and gradually the doctor leads them to the recognition of the painfulness of their condition. As soon as the patient agrees with the diagnosis, the treatment goes much faster.
Together with the doctor, a person suffering from narcissism finds a constructive solution that helps him lower his self-esteem a little to the required level. However, it is very important that the specialist can correctly understand the cause of the disease and try to exclude it. If this does not work out, then the patient will refuse treatment and will never come to the session again.
If we talk about drug treatment, then it is used only if the patient suffers from a depressive disorder, he has bouts of panic, phobias and other dangerous mental disorders. In this case, a course of tranquilizers or antidepressants may be prescribed. However, it must be understood that drugs cannot rule out narcissism. In this situation, the person’s condition is only facilitated so that he does not reach the extreme point.
Prevention
The narcissistic type of personality is an extremely interesting topic for many specialists. During the study of this particular behavior, doctors were able to make an approximate picture of the development of the defect. In order to prevent such a pathology, factors that can make a person more selfish must be avoided. First of all, this applies to childhood. Parents must provide the baby with a harmonious upbringing. The child must understand that they love him, but at the same time they are expected to respond. This means that you can not always indulge your beloved child. Sometimes you need to say no.
You need to keep a balance. Of course, the baby must learn self-esteem and the ability to defend their point of view. However, he should take part in the discussion on equal terms with another interlocutor. This means that he should respect not only his parents, but also his peers. By instilling the right values in the baby, you can raise a strong, but decent person. If parents do not know how to behave properly, it is worth contacting a specialist. He will tell you which model of behavior will be best for raising a specific baby. In some situations, the parents themselves will need to go through several receptions with the psychologist.