Saturday, November 08, 2008

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

I guess I'm doing psychology today. From the wiki.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the diagnostic classification system used in the United States, as "a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy."

The narcissist is described as turning inward for gratification rather than depending on others and as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power and prestige. Narcissistic personality disorder is closely linked to self-centeredness.
And lo and behold there is a classification system.
DSM-IV divides personality disorders into three clusters based on symptom similarities. This clustering categorizes the Narcissistic personality disorder as a cluster B personality disorder, those personality disorders having in common an excessive sense of self importance. Also in that cluster are the Borderline personality disorder, the Histrionic personality disorder and the Antisocial personality disorder.
BTW be careful out there. You can see almost anything if you look hard enough.

2 comments:

linearthinker said...

Just a quick question, Simon, since you seem to have access to the DSM.

Where does the passive-aggressive personality fit with respect to the clustering?

M. Simon said...

LT,

All I have is google and wiki.

The passive-aggressive personality is in that cluster.