Narcissistic Personality Disorder Symptoms, Causes And Risk Factors

Narcissistic Personality Disorder Symptoms, Causes And Risk Factors

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Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder

 If you have narcissistic personality disorder, you may come across as egomaniac, boastful or pretentious. You often monopolize discussions. You may belittle or look down on people you perceive as lesser. You may feel a feeling of entitlement — and when you don’t get special treatment, you may become impatient or irritated. You may urge on having “the best” of everything — for instance, the best car, athletic club or medical care.At the same time, you have difficulty handling anything that may be perceived as criticism. You may have secret feelings of self-consciousness, shame, vulnerability and humiliation. To feel better, you may react with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make yourself appear superior. Or you may feel depressed and moody because you fall short of perfection.

DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder include these features:

  • Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
  • Expecting to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
  • Exaggerating your achievements and talents
  • Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
  • Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people
  • Requiring constant admiration
  • Having a sense of entitlement
  • Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations
  • Taking advantage of others to get what you want
  • Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
  • Being envious of others and believing others envy you
  • Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner

Causes:It’s not known what causes narcissistic personality disorder. As with other mental disorders, the cause is likely complex. Narcissistic personality disorder may be linked to:

  • Mismatches in parent-child relationships with either excessive pampering or excessive criticism.
  • Genetics or psychobiology — the connection between the brain and behavior and thinking.

Risk factors:Narcissistic personality disorder is rare. During childhood and teen years, children may show traits of narcissism, but this may simply be typical of their age and doesn’t mean they’ll go on to develop narcissistic personality disorder.Narcissistic personality disorder affects more males than females, and it often begins in the teens or early adulthood.Although the cause of narcissistic personality disorder isn’t known, some researchers think that in biologically vulnerable children, parenting styles that overemphasize the child’s specialness and criticize fears and failures may be partially responsible. The child may hide low self-esteem by developing a superficial sense of perfection and behavior that shows a need for constant admiration.

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