This documentary looks at the nine major traits (or diagnostic criteria - click here for more details) associated with Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
1. Grandiosity
2. Arrogance
3. Preoccupation with success and power
4. Lack of empathy
5. Belief of being unique, special, 'the best'
6. Sense of entitlement
7. Requiring excessive admiration and validation
8. Exploitative of others
9. Envious and highly critical of others (and a belief that others are envious of him/her)
(I would add a 10th, lack of accountability and remorse.)
There are some interesting insights here, although it focuses primarily on overt narcissists - the flagrantly flamboyant kind, about whom movies are made; those who not only possess numerous narcissistic characteristics (five or more), but quite shamelessly exhibit and flout those characteristics in their day-to-day lives, thus appearing quite uninhibited in their egomania or 'craziness'. The extreme examples given here are those of David Berg, perverted megalomaniac founder of deviant cult "The Children of God", and Brian Blackwell, who murdered his parents in 2004 at the age of just 18, a brutal and horrifying crime that was downgraded to manslaughter once he had been assessed as having NPD.
I personally think covert, 'under the radar' narcissists are just as dangerous - while their actions are not quite so dramatic, amoral or shocking (at least to those not directly affected by them), this means they are typically able to string their victim/s along for longer, all the while maintaining a superficial veneer of sanity and respectability. This mask - totally convincing to everyone who never has to experience The Real Truth of The Narcissist - effectively belies what horror lurks beneath.
The documentary shows how NPD can lead to criminality, particularly among the most severe narcissists. But even the vast majority of high-functioning narcissists who do not break the law (through murder, sexual exploitation, bigamy, fraud and embezzlement, for example) invariably break the lives of other people. It is a disorder that wreaks unfettered havoc and total and utter devastation on everyone it touches, from the casual acquaintances and unsuspecting 'friends' who are fooled into seeing the narcissist as a "decent guy" or a "kind woman" and thus become one of their army of expendable and interchangeable enablers, through to the decimated casualties of the full force of narcissistic abuse. These are (usually) the children, partners and ex-partners of the narcissist who, at best, are left in a bruised and bewildered daze wondering "what the fuck just happened to me?" and, at worst, lose their health, security, friends and sanity.
"Narcissists resent weak people, vulnerable people... they have an in-bred 'aversion' to children, the elderly, sick people... it provokes in them a sadistic impulse... they prey upon weakness... they exploit vulnerability... Narcissists are predators." - Sam Vaknin
My own personal belief is that the very act of loving a narcissist is in itself viewed as a weakness by the narcissist - in fact as the most unforgivable weakness. They loathe themselves so much, so completely, that anyone who can actually find them intrinsically lovable is, in their mind, beneath contempt. This is why they so often target their own children and partners.
Further reading: NPD information sources
No comments:
Post a Comment