What is Psychology?

Answers to Your Psychology Questions

  • Disorders & Syndromes
  • Mental Health
  • Definitions
  • Love & Relationship
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Child Psychology

What are the Causes of Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

Narcissistic personality order is characterized by symptoms of extreme self-obsession. The term narcissism is derived from the Greek myth in which a beautiful young man, Narcissus, falls in love with his own reflection. Of course, in moderation, there is nothing wrong with a small degree of self-love, and it is in fact healthy. However, a problem arises when a person suffering from narcissism has an exaggerated sense of self-importance and grandiosity, so what are the causes of narcissistic personality disorder?

A narcissist usually thinks the world revolves around them. They crave attention and are often preoccupied by power and success, but such self centered behavior is often a mask for massive insecurities and a very fragile sense of self esteem, which is why a narcissist can sometimes be overly sensitive to criticism—a sub-type of the disorder known as hypervigilant narcissistic personality disorder.

The traits of narcissism have been much discussed by eminent psychologists over the years, but although the exact cause of the personality disorder is as yet unknown, most believe there are risk factors in childhood that can trigger the symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder in certain individuals with a genetic predisposition.

The risk factors identified by mental health researchers are generally related to the child’s upbringing. Poor parenting skills are often a factor, and when combined with a predisposition towards narcissistic traits, the symptoms of narcissism can soon develop into full-blown narcissistic personality disorder in adulthood.

What are the causes of narcissistic personality disorder?

A dysfunctional upbringing where parents excessively praise or criticize the child is very unhealthy. Praise always needs to be countered by constructive criticism or the child will grow up with an exaggerated sense of self-importance. This often applies to children who are constantly told they have exceptional looks or talents, despite evidence to the contrary.

  • Overindulgence—spoiling a child rotten and failing to set sensible boundaries is always going to lead to problems, but in the most extreme cases, the end result is a narcissist.
  • Inconsistent love and attention—parents that shower the child with attention one minute, then ignore them the next cause all kinds of damage.
  • Parents who use the child as a means to boost their own self-esteem cause untold damage. For example, the pushy parent who forces the child into activities they hate because it gives the parent a greater sense of self-importance.
  • Emotional abuse inflicted by parents or other authority figures in childhood can cause many problems, including the traits of narcissistic personality disorder in adulthood.
  • Incest has also been reported as a trigger factor for some cases of narcissistic personality disorder, particularly mother-son cases of incest.

In all likelihood, narcissistic personality disorder develops as a result of a combination of many factors and is the child’s way of coping with the psychological stress inflicted being inflicted on them.

And according to Freud, all children go through a narcissistic early development stage between the ages of 3 and 7, but it is only when failures in parenting or other trigger factors prevent the child from moving forward and maturing into the next stage of development that the problems manifest themselves.

Related Articles:

  1. Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Mother and Daughter Relationship Narcissism can be an extremely damaging personality disorder in any type of relationship, but no more so than when seen in the case of maternal narcissism. Studies of narcissistic personality disorder: mother and daughter relationship issues have consistently shown that a narcissistic mother is incapable of giving love or empathizing...
  2. How to Deal with Narcissistic Behaviour in Men? Most people have some degree of narcissism in their personality and in many cases this is actually a positive thing—looking after our own interests can help to prevent others taking advantage of us. But if the man you are in a relationship with is a true narcissist, it can lead...
  3. What is the Treatment for Narcissistic Personality Disorder? Living with a narcissist can be challenging and dysfunctional relationships are very common when one of the partners is suffering from narcissistic personality disorder. There is currently no known cure for narcissism, but a typical treatment for narcissistic personality disorder will involve different forms of psychotherapy....
  4. Dealing With Narcissistic Men in Relationships Most people display a varying degree of narcissism at different times, but in order to be diagnosed as suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder, the level of narcissism has to be very severe. So what are the traits of a narcissistic personality and if your partner is diagnosed as suffering...
  5. What is Self Centered Personality Disorder? Self centered personality disorder, also known as narcissistic personality disorder, is characterized by an exaggerated degree of self-centeredness and self importance in conjunction with a complete lack of empathy for the feelings of others. ...

Filed Under: Disorders & Syndromes

Comments

  1. RUKUNDO Selley says

    June 15, 2021 at 2:14 am

    Thanks very much you people. I was dying with a narcissistic spouse when I did not know

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Topics

  • Disorders & Syndromes
  • Drugs & Addiction
  • Mental Health
    • Fear & Anxiety
  • Neuroscience
    • Attention & Concentration
    • Memory
    • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
    • Animals
    • Behavior
    • Child Psychology
    • Definitions
    • Education
    • Experimental Psychology
    • Famous Psychologists
    • Gender Difference
    • Language & Communication
    • Love & Relationship
    • Nutrition
    • Popular Psychology
  • Therapy

Recent Posts

What is Alzheimer’s Disease?

Why Do People Cut Themselves?

Can You Learn While You Sleep?

Is Herpes Linked to Dementia?

Stay updated on Facebook Follow WhatisPsychology on Twitter

Affiliate Links – Advertising Disclosure

If you purchase a product or service linked from this site, we may receive an "affiliate commission". We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising" and also in accordance to amazon associates programme operating agreement.

Amazon
The owner of this website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

Copyright © · What is Psychology? · Privacy Policy · About · Archives · Contact us