The term “Narcissism” can be defined as the practice of submerging oneself in an outrageous degree of self-love and admiration. The advent of social media and the influencer culture has made people aware about this popularly used word, however, people are still not completely cognizant of its origin and the fact that narcissism is a personality disorder with fairly destructive consequences.
The origin of the condition can be traced back to Greek mythology, the disorder acquired its name from a hunter called Narcissus. Legend has it that the hunter Narcissus was so absorbed in self-adulation and admiration that once he caught a glimpse of himself in a pool and got obsessed over his enchanting beauty. The obsession became so serious and significant that Narcissus lost his will to indulge in any kind of work and consequently committed suicide.
With only 0.5% to 0.1% of the general population getting effect by the disorder, the narcissistic personality disorder can be defined as an over-valued feeling of self-regard and importance. According to research, the condition is most common in men, with almost 70% – 75% of the affected population being males. More than the patient himself, the narcissistic personality disorder is usually damaging to the people around him. Having the ability to ruin marriages, friendships and other relationships, this personality disorder has been responsible for damaging millions of lives worldwide.
Unlike other health conditions, the symptoms of narcissism are not as clearly visible, and there is a very thin line between general self-importance behavior and acute narcissism.
However, it’s exceedingly important to know the actual symptoms of the disorder as narcissism can be extremely toxic and destructive for both the parties of relationship, hence one can’t simply put a blind eye towards narcissistic behavior.
We have done a rundown of the ten most common narcissistic personality disorder symptoms.
Symptom 1: Little or No Empathy
Feeling bad for something or understanding someone else’s pain is not that difficult right? Well for someone suffering from the narcissistic personality disorder, not so much. You see, for a narcissist, manifestation of empathy and compassion can be a real tough job. Even when a partner or a close friend is going through the toughest of times, even then a narcissist will not be able to show any support as he will not be able to understand your pain and sadness.
An individual suffering from narcissism also has trouble understanding their own mistake, and their sense of feeling guilt is also absent. No matter how hard you try to convince them about their actions, they won’t realise their mistake, instead, they will continuously argue. Narcissist expects other people to show no empathy too, and get disgusted when someone does so.
Symptom 2: Dominating Talkers
Narcissists are self-absorbed to such a great extent that they won’t allow anybody else talks to them about anything except their own achievements, and success, they like to dominate conversations, and they only want to talk about themselves. They feel no shame in interrupting someone else to guide the conversation in the direction of their own liking.
However, a narcissistic individual does not like to be interrupted when they are talking and get extremely annoyed when somebody tries to correct them during a conversation. They expect people to accept whatever they are saying without any possibility of disagreement.
Symptom 3: High Regard for Their Own Importance
A narcissist would always feel that they are the most important person in the world, they believe that the world revolves around them and nobody will be able to handle themselves without them. They don’t feel any doubt in making other people realise their perceived importance. They expect a life of privilege and utter entitlement, they want people to fulfil their wishes, even when they won’t be returning the favour anytime, ever.
Symptom 4: Fake or Pretentious Personality
Narcissists strive towards putting a fake personality upfront, a personality which projects them as a successful individual. A narcissist wants to appear as somebody who lives a perfect life, a life with money, expensive cars, branded clothes and absolutely everything else to be extremely posh and rich. Except being pretentious and fake, they also want to move around with people they think are rich and powerful, even if they don’t like them at all. They only make friends with people who have expensive cars, and houses.
Symptom 5: Strong Aversion Towards the Following Rules
Narcissists believe that they are special and unique, they don’t have to give answers to anybody, they have a tendency to break rules because they think that the rules of the mortal world are restricted to only the ordinary people and not on someone as special as them.
Not only the rules of parents or teachers, but they also don’t care about the law, and feel no shame or guilt in breaking laws. For instance, a narcissist would jump the traffic light on purpose, and won’t obtrude any remorse or regret, instead, they will start arguing with people who question their actions.
Symptom 6: Aspire Perfection
A narcissistic individual would be willing to go to any length for achieving perfection. They believe that they should be perfect at all times, from hair to clothes, everything should look special and exceptional. They set unrealistic performance expectations with themselves and get immensely perturbed if they are not able to fulfil them. On top of the constant agony and pressure they put on themselves, they also expect the same from others and won’t tolerate anything less than perfect from anybody else.
Symptom 7: Charming and Magnetic Personality
A narcissist would end up acting like an extra caring or loving person if they feel like doing do, they have the ability to make people feel special and important. They have a magnetic personality that makes you want to be with them at all times. However, this does not last for long, as they once achieve what they planned out to seek in the first place they start acting their real self and desert you when you need them the most.
Symptom 8: Highly Manipulative
Narcissists see no wrong manipulating situations and individuals for their own good, instead they recognize their manipulation attitude as a superpower, and they use it whenever they see fit. They won’t flinch in emotionally blackmailing their partner to gain what they want, as they experience no care for the consequences this manipulation would have on their partner’s mental health. They also tend to make people fight among themselves for their own entertainment.
Symptom 9: Control Freaks
Narcissists are a real control freak, they want to take hold of every situation and they won’t have any trouble in deploying any trick to fulfil this desire of control and power. They absolutely abhor the fact they someone can be in control when they are around, and they won’t allow any correction or flout of their opinion.
Symptom 10: Putting Blame on Someone Else
A narcissist won’t feel any embarrassment in hoarding up all the appreciation and recognition for their own self. However, they won’t ever take full responsibility or blame for anything that has gone south. They have a twisted sense of loyalty towards their clean slate record and they don’t expect to realise their own mistake, instead, they always look for scapegoats to blame and to plant forceful responsibility on them.