narcissistic personality disorder

Narcissistic Personality Disorder
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Abstract
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a mental problem that affects the behaviors of the patient. The victim shows extraordinary signs where they call for recognition from everyone. The victim lacks understanding of other people’s feelings as they only think themselves to be of importance. The deep admiration that these people display makes them seek for power and success so that they can enhance their appearance. The main problem with this mental disorder is their behavior of despising other people around them. The behavior makes them have a hard time in relating with other people well. However, the cause of this mental disorder is not known. Besides, there is no available medication treatment known for treating NPD but only through the psychotherapy process. The disorder is common in adults, and it is important for the healthcare expert to distinguish the condition from that of mania and those relating to drug abuse so that appropriate therapy can be devised.
Keywords: Narcissistic personality disorder, psychotherapy
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Introduction
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a dangerous mental condition as far as the social life of an individual is concerned. The disorder starts in early childhood and continues as one grows thus displaying different characteristic. The common symptoms of the problem are; extreme feelings for self-importance with high ego, inadequate understanding of other people’s views hence lack tolerance and accommodation of other people’s desires and opinions.

Individuals with this disorder strive to realize self-admiration through the power and forceful recognition from those around them. Individuals with NPD seeks for favors of which when not granted, and they easily get disappointed. Currently, there is no known cause of the disorder and medical treatment for this disorder, thus calling for other alternatives that can be used to end the disorder. The NPD is believed to affect about 6% of the world population (TYRER et al., 2010). Furthermore, the cases in individual countries have shown consistence in the rates thus indicating that the NPD is a serious problem that has to be addressed. The paper shall highlight some key elements of the disorder such as the history, treatment, projection and assessment of the problem, as well as the symptoms and any relevant information from the available statistical data. The paper will go further by pointing out the available therapies for the problem and how they can be implemented to help the patient regain their stability.
History
The term narcissism is attributed to a Greek mythological youth known as Narcissus. The term has been used for many years to refer to the art of excessive vanity which revolves around selfishness seen in many people. Going back to the story of Narcissus, it is evident that he died out of grief on somebody that never existed when he had a reflection in a lake. The modern medical classification has come to refer to the self-centeredness as narcissistic personality disorder. The disorder can be related to the megalomania which raised different opinions by the early scholars such as Freud and Kernberg.
Cause and Mechanisms
So far, there is no clarity on the particular cause of NPD in human beings. This has attracted many experts to employ the biopsychosocial model in finding the possible factors that contribute to this mental disorder. Some of the identified factors include the environment, genes, social set up as well as neurobiological factors. Genetics plays a major role in the human development. There is a close association of the condition of mental disorders with the genetic factors. Those who are born in families where NPD existed before have higher chances of experiencing the problem (Benjamin, 1996). A study done on personality disorder in twins proved that heredity could contribute to the case of narcissistic disorder to develop in human beings. The genes that are acquired from the parents can contribute to the etiology which may influence the development of NPD. However, there is no scientific prove how genes influence the development and the physiological process that cause the mental disorder.
The environment is another factor that can be related to development of the mental disorder. For instance, there are cases where pathological narcissism develops from the environment surrounding them such as impaired attachment from their caregivers while they are young. The child may feel inferior because of the inadequate attention directed towards them by their parents. This perception makes them feel unvalued and unwanted hence the development of the NPD problem. Besides, there are some other environmental factors associated with the development of narcissism which includes the following. One can be born with an oversensitive temperament which develops as a character as they grow up hence experiencing this disorder. At times excessive admiration that they are exposed to can reduce their ability to regulate their perceptions hence developing the trait later in life. Similarly, parental behaviors play a role in the way children grow up. For instance, excessive praise when the child behave well and extreme criticism when they display bad behaviors. This attitude becomes part of the child hence having mental problems later in life. There are also incidences when the child develops the mental disorder from the emotional abuse experienced at childhood thus affecting their emotional balance. Furthermore, some attributes of manipulative behaviors that they observe from their friends or parents may manipulate them and affect their self-esteem.
Although little research has been done on the neurological impact on the issue of narcissistic personality disorder, studies have shown that structural abnormality in the brains exists in individuals with the narcissistic disorder. The brains have less gray matter in the left insula and at times in the prefrontal cortex. Individuals with such brain defaults are characterized by poor emotional regulation, external empathy as well as compassion since the gray matter is required for the normal functioning of the brain. From the observation, NPD is associated with the compromised capacity of emotional regulation as well as emotional empathy.
Signs and Symptoms
The mental disorders disrupt the normal functioning of the body and the characteristics of an individual. The vital signs of the disorder are the excessive need for admiration and the inadequate empathy for others. The patient displays power-seeking behaviors and they feel some sense of superiority over others. Besides, they are always arrogant and desires to be recognized as better people than anybody around them. They always demand to be treated with favors and to be seen as superiors irrespective of their positions. The high expectations from other people make the victim vulnerable to negative emotions since they display more expectations than what the society can provide. Therefore, they suffer from any external criticism as their egos are very fragile. Some of the general behaviors seen in individuals with NPD include; self-perception of being special and more important than others. They also call for constant admiral from their friends and people around them (“Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders,” 2013). They can go further to exploit other people in the name of gaining power and attaining the sense of entitlement (Stinson et al., 2008). At times, the victims think that other people are envious of them, hence developing intense envy towards other people. In most cases, NPD develops at adolescents when symptoms that become rigid and pervasive dominate their lives permanently. The condition impairs people’s ability to develop positive relationships with others.
Treatment and medication
Although there has been no specific treatment for the Narcissistic Personality Disorder, the symptoms and conditions that relate from this disorder prompt them to seek medical attention. Some of the difficulties that people face that make them go for treatment include things such as depressive disorders, eating disorders or substance abuse related issues. The reason behind the rationale is the common features in the NPD patients where they fail recognizing their behaviors and personal attributes of superiority. Therapies have worked better in enhancing the behaviors of the NPD patients since there is no medical treatment prescribed for NPD. The only treatment that can be done is for those conditions related to the BPD such as anxiety and depression (TYRER et al., 2010). Pattern change strategies can be used for the long period in improving the behaviors of the patients hence making them empathetic. The strategy also helps in making the patients realize the need to use their uniqueness in helping others as opposed to the idea of egocentric motives.
Temperament change can also help in resolving the conditions through psychoanalytic psychotherapies. The only requirement for this method to be effective is the need for the therapist to identify the traits of the patient so that they can work on them to finish NPD. Group treatment enables peer feedback that could prove difficult when done on individual basis. Group therapies expose the patients to develop trust amongst themselves hence developing self-awareness necessary for controlling individual behaviors. The group therapy is also focused on learning and the use of interpersonal skills hence creating empathy for others among the patients as well as developed skills in problem-solving.
Prognosis
There has no empirical investigation on the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatment modes. Similarly, there are no clinical practice guidelines for the NPD treatment. The clinicians use their experience in the field with other patients to devise the treatment for the new patients (Caligor, Levy, & Yeomans, 2015). NPD in patients who are under medication for other mental disorders experiences slow treatment progress and sometimes causes failure in the treatment as they opt out of the therapy.
Conclusion
Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental problem that can affect one’s interrelations with other people. The disorder causes unwanted behaviors among the patients such as the need for admiration and recognition as special people. The disorder can be treated through psychotherapies especially those done on groups. There is no medical prescription known to treat this mental problem. However, other conditions relating from the NPD such as anxiety and depression can be treated.
References
Benjamin, L. (1996). Interpersonal diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders (1st ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
Caligor, E., Levy, K., & Yeomans, F. (2015). Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Diagnostic and Clinical Challenges. American Journal Of Psychiatry, 172(5), 415-422. http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.14060723
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (2013) (1st ed.). Washington, D.C.
Stinson, F., Dawson, D., Golstein, R., Chou, P., Huang, B., & Smith, S. et al. (2008). Prevalence, Correlates, Disability, and Comorbidity of DSM-IV Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The Journal Of Clinical Psychiatry, 69(7), 1033-1045. http://dx.doi.org/10.4088/jcp.v69n0701
TYRER, P., MULDER, R., CRAWFORD, M., NEWTON-HOWES, G., SIMONSEN, E., & NDETEI, D. et al. (2010). Personality disorder: a new global perspective. World Psychiatry, 9(1), 56-60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/j.2051-5545.2010.tb00270.x