Just as a person can suffer from ailments of physical affectation, they can also suffer from psychological disorders and diseases . Mental health is sometimes a taboo subject and few people know enough information to treat it with the importance it deserves . There are multiple psychological conditions that affect the character and personality of a person and that, far from being habitual and harmless behaviors, are capable of excessively and negatively affecting their daily life and also the environment that surrounds them.

Narcissistic personality disorder is, as its name suggests, a mental disorder that, due to cinematographic or television influences, has been trivialized and normalized in its most negative sense. The latter also happens with other mental disorders and illnesses, such as depression or anorexia, and represents a setback in all the way of making these problems visible . In this article, narcissistic personality disorder is discussed and in it you will be able to find what it consists of, what symptoms it presents, what is the treatment to combat it and other data and information of interest .

Narcissistic personality disorder

This personality pattern, considered a perfectly diagnosable psychological disorder, is a disease that affects the vision that the patient has of himself and of his environment . The main common characteristics in all those who suffer from this condition is that they have a very egotistical and grandiose personality , they feel the constant need to feel admired by others and, in general, they also lack complete empathy for other people .

It is a disease that, although at first it could be confused with a simple egocentric character, makes the individual inflexible in all his ideological positions and that he has a radical vision that affects the rest of society. This disease, which tends to appear in adolescence and adulthood , causes the patient’s relations with his environment to deteriorate significantly and excessively if he first does not take the appropriate treatment.

Frequent symptoms

At first, the narcissistic personality disorder is confused with an egomaniac character because of the common points they have, but the truth is that it is possible to differentiate both conditions due to the radicalism that the first implies. The first symptom that stands out in a person suffering from narcissistic personality disorder is that he tends to exaggerate the goals and achievements he achieves, giving them an inordinate importance and with the suggestion that no one but him could achieve them.

Another symptom that is repeated a lot in this disorder is feeling special and unique . The feeling of superiority towards others is common and, for the patient, it is the perfect justification for relating only to a certain social rank. Typically, people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are so arrogant and feel so important on their own that they tend to look down on others as too basic and mundane.

Lack of empathy is also another of the main symptoms that respond to this disorder. Anyone affected by this problem does not respond to the feelings of others and does not feel remorse if they hurt or use them to further their own interests. It is somewhat contradictory that, knowing this general contempt for others, another repeated symptom in this disorder is unfounded and unfounded envy towards other people for their achieved goals. This is because, despite the egotistical facade, the self – esteem of these people is fragile and tremendously vulnerable .

Who are susceptible to this disorder?

Although there is no clear trend or that it is shown in excess, it can be affirmed that the most prone to suffer this psychological condition are men who are in an adult age group . The diagnosis of this disorder in adolescence is possible, but because, at this stage, the adolescent is still developing and shaping his character and personality, it is much more reliable to establish that he has reached adult maturity.

Be that as it may, the diagnosis of this type of disorder must be as accurate as possible and, although the character of a person can undergo drastic changes depending on the situation and environment in which it is found, a strange and repeated behavior in the term one year may be enouto achieve an accurate evaluation.

Possible causes

To this day, there is still no reason that justifies the appearance and development of narcissistic personality disorder. In the same way that other mental conditions are, this one is very complex due to the impossibility of finding a tangible and clear factor . Whether the reason is possible or not, mental health specialists have established possible causes of the disorder and these are those related to the environment, genetics and neurobiology .

Regarding the environment, experts may associate poor relationships between children and parents with the development of the disorder. Also, genetics could be part of this development as there is a history of the same problem in close relatives . On the other hand, it is possible that the connection between behavior and brain is not good and that it is another factor to include.

Possible treatments

It is very likely that at the same time that narcissistic personality disorder is diagnosed, other variables related to the behavior and character of the person are also found. This mix of disorders makes final treatment more complicated, but not impossible. In fact, there are several alternatives that can work as a treatment. One of them is talk therapy , which consists of teaching the patient how to relate to others in an affectionate way and make him understand how feelings and emotions work , both for him and for other people.

Controlling stress, frustration, the feeling of failure and other emotions that, in general, tend to negatively and excessively affect anyone’s mood, are factors that must be worked on in a talk therapy session . Currently there is no specific medication for narcissistic personality disorder, so trying to improve the reasoning of a patient with this problem is, for now, the best alternative.