Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive behavior and thoughts about oneself, a strong need for approval, admiration, and insensitivity to the feelings or needs of others.
Some common traits associated with NPD include:
1. Excessive Hubris: Individuals with NPD tend to have an inflated view of their own importance, uniqueness, and abilities. They feel that they are better, more important, and more valuable than other people.
2. A sense of missing out on life if you don’t get recognition: People with NPD have a strong need to be recognized and praised by others. They seek praise, admiration, and constant attention to maintain their fragile sense of self-worth.
3. Lack of Empathy: Empathy is the ability to understand and feel the feelings of others. People with NPD tend to have deficits in this ability and have difficulty understanding or acknowledging other people’s feelings. They tend to ignore or dismiss other people’s needs and feelings.
4. Fear of Weakness or Failure: Despite appearing to have strong self-confidence, people with NPD are actually often very vulnerable to criticism and rejection. Because of this, they often maintain a perfect image and try to avoid failure or weakness, even in unhealthy ways.
5. Manipulative Behavior: People with NPD tend to use other people as tools to achieve their own goals. They often manipulate others through guilt, emotional blackmail, or other maneuvers to gain their own interests.
6. Feelings of Intense Anger: Individuals with NPD often experience intense anger and feel that they are entitled to get whatever they want. They often cannot control their anger and tend to project their frustration and anger onto others.
It is important to remember that only a professional expert such as a psychiatrist or psychologist can make an official diagnosis of NPD based on the rules and diagnostic criteria set out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
If you or someone you know experiences these characteristics and is concerned about NPD, it is important to seek help from a professional trained in mental health.