Narcissistic Personality Disorder

The main difference between ‘narcissism’ and ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ is that narcissistic traits are within the range of normal human behaviours, whereas narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition that affects a person’s everyday life.

NCD is surprisingly prevalent (between 1-6% of people have NCD) and can be difficult to deal with effectively. Symptoms include:

• A sense of self-importance.
• A preoccupation with power, beauty, or success.
• A feeling of entitlement
• Can only be around people who are important or special.
• Are interpersonally exploitative for their own gain.
• Are arrogant.
• Can lack empathy.
• Feel they must be admired.

The way to deal with someone who has NCD is to:

• Set Boundaries: Establish clear boundaries and communicate them assertively.
• Maintain Self-Awareness: Recognize your own worth and strengths, and do not let the narcissist’s behavior define your self-esteem.
• Limit Contact: If possible, minimize
• Signpost them carefully them towards receiving therapy

Types of therapy they can try include the following:

Psychodynamic Therapy — This helps a person understand their behaviours, moods and disruptive thoughts.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) — This helps people identify negative, unhelpful behaviour patterns and replace them with more productive and positive ones.
Relationship or Couples Therapy — This can help them and their partner gain a better understanding of negative patterns within the relationship and help them address them.

There’s no specific medicine used to treat narcissistic personality disorder although, sometimes medicines may be used for related issues such as depression or anxiety.