The Nature of Narcissism

Misconceptions about narcissism abound. There are many reasons for this. For one thing, from an official, psychiatric/psychological perspective, it’s a poorly defined construct. The current classification lists a cluster of behavioral traits that describe a particular kind of narcissistic personality. And it’s noteworthy that the folks who adopted that particular definition once considered abandoning the classification altogether. That’s partly because they recognized the difficulty involved in pinning down the core elements of this character disturbance. But it’s also because professional and non-professional alike have been hesitant to accept that there are simply different types and manifestations of narcissism.

There is a core to all narcissism. And that has to do with an unhealthy, unbalanced ego and sense of self-worth. But many different character traits and behavioral tendencies can enter the mix, making for some very different kinds of narcissists. And each brand of narcissism presents a very different challenge within a relationship.

The Narcissism Spectrum Explained

Dr. Peter Salerno and I discussed some of the many misconceptions about narcissism with Lisa Sonni on one of her podcasts several weeks ago. Recently, we continued that discussion in the hopes of further clarifying matters. We not only discussed the many different types and manifestations of narcissism but also the cultural factors influencing the prevalence of narcissism and other character disturbances.

I can’t say this enough: character disturbance is a spectrum phenomenon. Like so many other conditions, it exists along spectra of both type and degree of severity. And each manifestation poses different types and levels of threat to a relationship.

You can now access our discussion on the Character Matters Youtube channel. There are probably a million points I could have made but didn’t for one reason or another. But I was happy to make one particularly important one. The human heart naturally hungers for wholesomeness in a relationship. But in the age of rampant character dysfunction, finding that wholesomeness seems a monumental challenge. To restore health to our relationships many things will have to change. The destructive cultural vicious cycle that’s been churning for decades has to be reversed. The prevalence of character disturbance of all types and degrees of severity must decrease. And as I mention in Essentials for the Journey, that can only happen one heart at a time, beginning with our own.