“Am I dealing with a Narcissist or a
Psychopath?”
Professor Craig Neumann sheds light on a
difficult question
Psychopathy is a pathological personality disorder that
reflects interpersonal deceptiveness, manipulation, callous and remorseless use
of others, along with impulsive behavioral style and overt antisocial behavior
(ranging from aggression to violent criminal acts). Only a few features of
psychopathy (glib, grandiose interpersonal style) overlap with narcissism… the
psychopath is about taking advantage of people for their own selfish interests,
or sometimes just to hurt people because they find that amuses them.
A grandiose (or malignant) narcissist may end up hurting
others, but not because they find it enjoyable but more as a byproduct of
thinking they are so great and whatever path they may choose, even if it
involves rolling over people, so to speak, is OK given their ‘greatness’
DSM-based narcissistic personality
disorder (which mostly refers to grandiose narcissism and is somewhat limited
in capturing vulnerable narcissism), also involves personality pathology
but involves an interpersonal style and way of thinking that revolves around
maintaining an elevated sense of self-esteem and getting attention from others
to keep their self-esteem afloat, so to speak… paradoxically, the narcissist is
fundamentally dependent on others attention for self-esteem maintenance, while
they also think they are far better than everyone else. While most people develop a healthy sense of
self-worth, the narcissist requires other peoples’ admiration to have a sense
of self-esteem (and thus the pathology and essence of their disturbed way of
relating to others). The (vulnerable
primarily) narcissist most definitely has a grandiose sense of self, like the
psychopath, and they can have shallow empathy for others (because everything
revolves around them), but they are not generally impulsive and aggressive like
the psychopath.
The psychopath is completely dissocial, whereas the
narcissist(s) will be social, but for their own self-esteem ‘boost’. The
psychopath will be ‘social’ to take advantage of others in many more ways than
the narcissist would ever do
The critical difference could be said to involve their
differing ‘world views’. The psychopath
doesn’t care what others think about them and operates solely to use people for
whatever they please. The narcissist(s) is (are) solely focused on their
elevated self-importance and demands (required for the vulnerable narcissist)
people to pay attention to them.
The vulnerable narcissist (VN) has a fragile sense of
self-esteem, and without the attention from others is prone to depression,
suicide, and various erratic behaviors, even aggression, in an attempt to get
admiration from others because without the attention from others they are empty
inside, given they have no healthy means of positive self-evaluation… as you
can see VN is not a good thing. Turns out, grandiose narcissism also has some
considerable down sides, but these folks tend not to have negative emotion, and
often are very extroverted.
Dr. Craig Neumann:
Professor of Clinical Psychology, Associate Director of Clinical Training, University
of North Texas; Member of the Board of the Society for the Scientific Study of
Psychopathy
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