Relationships are always welcome and sought after. Who does not want a good relationship that is built on trust, love and respect for one another? In your quest to find a perfect partner you could land up with a narcissistic personality and that could really ruin your life and relationship.
There are various kinds of narcissistic personalities that you will find all around you. Some show mild symptoms, others are more grave and a few a can be quite intense. The second category of people is supposed to suffer from pathological narcissism while the last category has narcissistic personality disorders. Unfortunately, any degree of narcissistic traits can make a relationship miserable.
Narcissistic people are used to talking great things about themselves all the time; this really makes many people feel that they need to be with that person. In the self-praise and adulation, everything that they do seems and feels out of this world and just too great; even though what they did was probably quite simple or elementary. Unfortunately, if you fall for that you may think you are the luckiest person in the world.
Another trait with narcissistic people is that they are deceptive and can make up great demeanours to show their greatness. At the beginning you could find yourself being treated like a special person. You are showered with grand gifts, taken out for great dinners and in general look like the perfect match for the person. Such behaviour makes you feel special and unique just like the narcissist too.
The next stage could be sex. Here too, the first few times would be out of this world and you would feel like you cannot get a better partner than this. All the great things that happen to you with a narcissistic personality cement your belief that this is the best relationship you can get into.
Once you are in a relationship, things begin to change. Over a period of time, if you take time out to introspect you will find that you are nothing but another object for the narcissist. You help them look better and grander than usual. You need to be exploited and demeaned for them to look great. The gifts and dinners tickle to a stop and pretty soon even the sex becomes a one way pleasure session.
This is the time when you need to take a step back and think about you and your life. Chances of changing a narcissist can be really remote, if you have feed the ego and the pride for too long. That leaves you with a simple solution which is to break the relation.
Having a relationship with a Narcissistic Personality can be really challenging. You want to build on something that you invested a lot of time and effort on, but at the same time it is also means that you may have to continue to live a nondescript live under the shadow of your partner.
What is Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) ?
One serious pathological mental disorder is the Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). This personality disorder is often ignored by majority of the population and is even misdiagnosed by the medical community. And due to lack of medical attention, patients grew worse each day.
We are narcissistic some ways we don’t notice. Being narcissist means having an extreme pathological self-centeredness. Thus, suffers from extreme self-centeredness. However, NPD is a more serious misrepresentation of aspects of the self-love, conflicting from the usual personality operation. A patient lack compassion and understanding for others.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a debilitating, pathological disorder which prevents the narcissist from contributing to society and almost always leads to destructive, anti-social behavior towards others. He is unable to distinguish any act he does ca be unacceptable in the eyes of the community. Also, he doesn’t accept the fact of himself being imperfect. He is having a hard time admitting his mistakes. He will further generate justifications of his actions blaming others of the fault he did. Shame is one feeling that he never experiences.
Due to a patient’s lack of empathy for others, he lacks good relationship with others. The narcissist does not recognize feelings in others. He is so blind to emotions of others that his emotional maturity is very comparable to that of a toddler. He possess a child-like belief that everything and everyone that surrounds him are entirely responsible for his moods and that he is unable to control himself.
This also affects its capability of engaging into intimate relationships, for it cannot understand the need of his partner. He is unable to listen to others, especially to those that are non-existent to him. Not directly that he thinks other people share the same interests as he does but rather he simply cannot understand others could be interested upon something else rather than what interests him.
The narcissist can be pleasant and fun at one time, but in a blink of an eye, he can express a wild and anguish mood swings that is sometimes surprising, even frightening. He doesn’t realize that this expression of mood is irrational and pathological. If this continues, his belief of being perfect will cause him to justify his wrong doings and make them responsible for it.
The real conclusion here is far from what the society’s mistaken understanding were, the problem is not on extreme self-love, but rather his inability to recognize others as separate beings. In this sense, NPD is the most extreme form of anti-social mental disorder.
Narcissism starts in early childhood however; NPD is not a biological trait, but rather a failure of character development. The common cause of this disorder is parental neglect. Commonly to the parents’ negligence and let their children be raised by a nanny. Thereby the child has a short contact with his parent.
A patient suffering from such disorder maybe cured by a narcissistic psychopath. The situation must be immediately be discussed with your friends and family, and together consider seeking professional help.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder and its Causes, Symptoms, Information and Treatment
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) usually developed because of an abusive past and trauma. This serves as his defense mechanism with the sad fact he had encountered in the past. This is considered as a childish response that is usually developing in early childhood or in the early adolescence stage. Childhood developmental factors and parenting behaviors are the big factors that can contribute to the personality disorder. Narcissistic personality disorder affects the population for about 1 percent as rather compared to the other personality disorders. This personality disorder may be a result from the inability of a child to put the past behind him and as a defense, he develop a sense of self-centeredness in him. This all, in response to the child’s past emotional splitting, resultant cognitive distortions, and negative worldview.
People with narcissistic personality disorder suffer from a difficulty upon being aware of the needs and feelings of others. He patient’s lack of empathy for others; thus, he lacks good relationship with others. The narcissist does not recognize feelings in others. He often is unconcerned, disapproving and intolerant when others open up and share concerns or problems. They are also unaware to their behavior so they don’t notice that what they act is unacceptable in the society. These people often show emotional aloofness and refuse to engage into reciprocity interest. They also exhibit a strong sense of jealousy when others acquire recognition. They wanted attention that they feel bad when others are above them. They are usually arrogant, disdainful and has a patronizing attitude. They blame and criticize others when their needs and expectations are not met. People suffering from narcissistic personality disorder have the tendency to seek out individuals whom they perceive as equal to their own self-image or to whom they attribute the same special talents and qualities they see in themselves.
Causes of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
These are the common causes and risk factors of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. These greatly impact the impact of narcissism in each individual.
• childhood
• painful past like abuse and trauma
• negligence of care
• severe emotional abuse
• excessive praises
• acquired manipulative behaviors from parents
Signs and Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Lacks empathy for others, thus is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others. He is unable to recognize the difference between himself and others’ persona. It is often envious of others or makes himself believe that others are jealous of his perfectness. They commonly show an arrogant, conceited behaviors or attitudes. These patients commonly love attention. They requires excessive admiration.
Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Common Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorder is pharmacotherapy. Pharmacotherapy is infrequently used medical practice. However, there has been an unofficial documented observation of therapeutic response with the a typical anti-depressant medication. But we must bear in mind that this kind of medication is limited.