Home > Health > Family Health > 7 Myths About Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder

7 Myths About Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Reader Comments
Back to article

Do narcissists ever admit they are narcicissists? My son-in-law could be a poster child yet he says he is nothing like that. He has been married 5 times and it was all their fault. My daughter is his 5th wife. He cannot hold a job - he must be management or he quits. It is a nightmare. He will not seek help because nothing is wrong with him.

Marie of KY 8:52PM November 28, 2012

Heres another myth, you using Love as a scientific quantity and measurable value.

NotAsDumbasAuthor of TX 10:19AM November 27, 2012

This blog's picture looks like an interesting graphic rendering that could actually make us understand better those Myths About Narcissism
http://cerebrart.blogspot.de/2012/10/cerebrart-reflection-iii.html

alex stein 1:08PM November 02, 2012

and your credentials for authority to assert all this things are... lemme guess, ability to use Google search, skim and pack like in 5th grade... Pathetic

Gal of CA 9:54AM October 23, 2012

Great article... It's difficult to understand what it is like to live with a true narcissist! I could never understand how to make him feel any sort of empathy or concern for others. And the link to the financial industry is very interesting, makes sense!

Anne Swenson of AZ 11:23AM October 16, 2012

Some of the commentators are having a hard time believing that for narcissists their overconfidence is NOT rooted in insecurity. If you've never met this kind of person, it's hard to believe or understand, but it's true. My father and my youngest brother match every single characteristic listed here. I've actually forwarded this article on to several relatives for a good laugh.
Being narcissistic doesn't mean these people are happy all the time; on the contrary, they deal with depression, but they don't blame themselves, they blame others for their shortcomings. For example, a narcissist who fails an exam may insist that the test was flawed to begin with rather than acknowledging that he simply didn't understand the material. Their relationships are all about what they can get. Because of this, they tend to use manipulative methods. Often they are so convincing that they convince not only themselves of their superiority, but others as well.
If you want a classic narcissist type in pop culture, take a look at the film, Being Flynn, and watch DeNiro's portrayal of the narcissistic homeless alcoholic who, even at his lowest level, continues to insist that any day he'll write the "great American novel." When he calls his son whom he abandoned and hasn't spoken to in years, his only reason is to ask him to bring a van so he can move him into a new apartment.

Jones of IL 10:49PM October 07, 2012

I have been married over 11 years and is a second marriage. My first wife came from a family in which she was sexually abused by a uncle and her grandfather. We supposedly had a child together whom I still love as my own. I had gotten injured defending my ex one night and it took a few years to heal physically after the divorce so I fell further away from my daughter trying to regain my life. I thought that if I could find another marriage my pain would heal. So I wound up meeting a well educated woman from South America who seemed so sweet and compassionate so I originally married her to help her out with her documents and citizenship. Even though I was offered money I turned it down because money cannot buy happiness. I thought if I could succeed in getting her daughter here and loving her as though she were my own child I would have a wife that would love and respect me. WRONG! During our first year of marriage was rough because she was so emotional being seperated from her daughter and I related to that. So I went out on a limb had an official wedding and succeeded in getting her daughter here. Nothing changed even though I loved her daughter like she was my own. My sister got her a job where she worked and all I heard was how ignorant my family was as well as all other Americans. She did everything she could at her job to overshoot my cousin for manager and after a while the company got rid of her. Then she decided that I wasn´t running my business right and decided that she needed to take over so it became a struggle over my company. When I wouldn´t give she went behind my back and tried to take my clients away from and did everything she could to keep me seperated from my daughter. After all of these years of being patient I fell into alcoholism from the pain and guilt of not being there for my daughter but this never interfered with her cold and selfish dealings with my clients and friends. Everytime I would run into extra money she spent most of it because she felt entitled to it. Anytime I said something to her she would get defensive. Now I cannot afford to leave and I am now on my last wish to God to please get me out of Georgia so she cannot find me again. I am down to having to sell my land in order to get professional help. No place to go and no one believes me. My sister and a lot of my friends have turned their backs which sis is the same way. However I have tried everything I could to fell loved and respected by her to no avail. I am only respected in bed. That is the only place I have any say about. She continues to use friends of mine to get what she wants. I have not contemplated suicide and never will. I still have enough self esteem that I know when I can leave I can rebuild my life again but it will be very hard to trust women again unless I meet a Amish lady and I still don´t know how long it will take to heal from all of this because I don´t have a woman to share my thoughts with but yet I sleep with one every night.

charles of GA 12:59AM October 06, 2012

I recently met a man online and immediately fell for him. He was fun funny confident charming successful. He was in a sense too good to be true. We spent countless hours talking and shared many secrets. The relationship was great in the beginning but when I started to question certain things he would "attack" me verbally. He called me dumb and stupid and would never apologize because of course it was always my fault and he was never wrong. As long as I was an adoring audience for him he was charming and happy. I feel I essentially became his puppet and wound up leaving my already unhappy marriage for him only to have him begin to make excuse after excuse why he wouldnt make a commitment to me. When the stress of instability finally got to me and I started to feel something was very wrong he made me feel like I was crazy and would ask why I needed to "put a label" on our relationship. He made me feel uneasy, insecure, depressed, and tired. Finally I confronted him on having NPD knowing of course that I was ending things. He told me he was seeing someone else and had no problem with his relationship with her. He had previously told me he was not ready to date anyone and absolutely wasnt seeing anyone. He blamed me for everything and even went so far as to insult me about things that were factors from the very beginning. The whole experience was very painful and humiliating. I am very grateful that at the suggestion of a friend I began researching addictive relationships which led me to discover narcissism and narcissistic abuse. Reading the character traits and other individuals accounts with this disorder was literally a light bulb moment for me. I can only be thankful this relationship lasted months and not years. Had I not confronted him and he not reacted the way he had I would still possibly think everything was my fault. I know better now. He proved what I had discovered. That he never cared and never would.

disgusted13 of MI 9:43AM September 26, 2012

I honestly think this is a very negative and hateful article. People with NPD usually DO have low self esteem and are compensating for that. I think whoever wrote this is extremely ignorant of mental illness. Thoughts like these are what give the mental health industry setbacks. Please change the name of this article to NOT include NPD, because this article has absolutely NO relevant information regarding NPD and will only make sufferers of the illness more guilty and self conscious of their illness.

Caitlin of AL 12:30AM September 24, 2012