We are used to taking as a narcissist a person who praises himself a lot and has a hard time recognizing his mistakes. However, even if a person has certain narcissistic traits, this does not mean that they could be diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder. On many occasions, it is simply a person with a high ego. Being a narcissist is a very complex thing with quite pronounced symptoms.
Does that person you’re thinking about always want to be the center of attention? Can’t stand criticism? Does he treat others badly, trying to show that they are inferior to him? These and many others are the characteristics of a narcissist.
Next, in Psychology-Online, we will see what is it to be narcissistic and we will show the main characteristics of narcissistic personality disorder so that you can have a better idea about whether you, or someone around you, suffers from this psychological disorder.
What is narcissism?
What does narcissist mean? To know what a narcissistic person is, you need to know the definition of narcissism.
Definition of the RAE
If we go to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), what does narcissism mean? Narcissism is what a person who has a excessive appreciation for one’s own qualitieswho declares herself in love with herself, and who dresses up too much.
Narcissism in psychology
However, if we stick to the definition provided by psychology, according to the DSM-5, the narcissist is characterized by a person with behaviors of greatness, with a need for admiration and a lack of empathy.
Furthermore, the personality of a narcissistic person has the following characteristics:
- Feelings of greatness and arrogance.
- Fantasies of power and success.
- He believes that he is special and unique and as such only people of the same status can understand him.
- Excessive need for admiration.
- He believes he has more privileges than he actually has.
- Takes advantage of personal relationships to obtain certain goals.
- Lacks empathy.
- You envy others or believe that they envy you.
- .
Here you will find more information about the.
We can encounter many narcissists throughout our lives: a boss, a friend… However, it can affect us emotionally if it is, especially, a mother or a partner. Once we have seen what it is to be a narcissistic person, we will see what it is like to be a narcissist and how it affects the role of mother or partner.
What is it like to be a narcissistic mother?
A narcissistic mother is characterized by a lack of empathy with their children, excessive coldness, control and jealousy. He tries to ensure that his children do not have independence since he needs to have everything under his control. He cancels out his children and their feelings and takes out all his frustrations on them. Narcissistic mothers want, especially with their daughters, to be like them. However, even if a daughter were practically identical, for the narcissistic mother it would never be enough, so she will never accept her daughter’s way of being.
Besides, the narcissistic mother constantly fears that the daughter “is better” than herwhich leads him to want to ruin his daughter’s relationship with others, such as friends or partners, and even try to have relationships with his daughter’s ex-partners.
On the contrary, with children there is usually a excessive flattery and overprotection. This can cause self-esteem and relationship problems for the narcissistic mother’s children.
In a family in which the mother is narcissistic, everything revolves around the needs that she has. Only her opinion and feelings matter. In addition, they tend to criticize family members against each other in order to keep them at odds. In addition, she assigns household chores that are inappropriate for the children’s age and exempts herself from her own responsibilities. Besides, criticizes the decisions of others and does not encourage them to progress work or academically.
If you think your mother has a narcissistic personality, it will help you to know the basic guidelines about .
Narcissism in relationships
Another type of narcissism that can cause great emotional damage is that which occurs in relationships. What is a narcissistic person like in a relationship? Narcissistic couples tend to require constant attention and adulation of the other member of the couple. Furthermore, they have fear of abandonment so they become controlling and look at messages, they want to know all the time where their partner is and with whom.
They are very emotionally intense people since Their expectations in relationships are what they see in romantic movies.. Furthermore, it greatly affects them that their partner sees any flaws in them and in the same way they ensure that, when choosing a partner, it is perfect and appropriate to the status that they themselves believe they have.
Like narcissistic mothers, they have a lack of empathy and they believe that the only problems that matter are their own. They rarely break up with their partner and if this is the one who ends the relationship, they will try to continue maintaining some type of contact with said ex-partner. Besides, It is very difficult for them to accept the end of a relationship so they will try to resume the relationship at some point.
In this article you can see and .
How to treat a narcissist
If you are a victim of a narcissist, you should try not considering the criticism they make of you. Remember that it is part of the disorder as is the lack of empathy. In any case, it is a problem that requires psychological support, both for the person suffering from the disorder and for the people around them, so it would be important not to try to solve the situation without supervision of a professional as further damage may be caused. Find out here if.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to What is it to be a narcissist?we recommend that you enter our category.
References
- ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY: Spanish dictionary23rd ed., .
- American Psychiatric Association (APA). (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. Barcelona: Masson.
Bibliography
- Lopez, A. (August 30, 2016). Narcissists – Part 2: their romantic relationships and how to deal with them. Retrieved from: https://www.eldefined.cl/actualidad/plazapublica/7345/Narcisistas-Parte-2-sus-relaciones-sentimentales-y-como-lidiar -with them/