People with narcissistic personality disorder often have other mental health conditions, particularly mood disorders. They also have a high rate of suicide. These conditions may have a common cause or they may be a result of the difficulties people with narcissistic personality disorder have with social interactions.
Life with a narcissist can be extremely stressful, leading to depression or anxiety. It can also make you physically sick. You may feel it in the pit of your stomach. This isn't surprising, as stress and dismay are often coupled with a gut disturbance.
The narcissist will start discounting doctors, minimizing the effects of the illness, and parading others around with similar illnesses in an effort to shame their spouse into believing that the sickness is only a mental manifestation of the spouses weakness. This is like pouring salt onto an open wound.
Narcissistic personality disorder is an illness associated with several systems of the brain. It is a disorder.
Narcissists can feel emotional pain, but not usually in the same way as others. The emotional pain they may feel is usually related to underlying selfish needs. Underneath the displays of superiority and sense of entitlement, they often feel empty, powerless, and shameful, which they perceive as weakness.
Key Points: Individuals who are high in narcissism may be more likely than others to fake being seriously ill or to fabricate a "health scare." While the lie's motivation isn't always clear, evidence suggests that it may be a way to exert control over others, gain desired attention, or boost the narcissist's reputation ...
A monumental weakness in the narcissist is the failure to look internally and flesh out what needs to be worked on. Then, of course, the next step is to spend time improving. The narcissist sabotages any possibility of looking deep within.
Chronic abuse can lead to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially in victims who experienced other traumas. The result of narcissistic abuse can also include a pervasive sense of shame, overwhelming feelings of helplessness, and emotional flashbacks.
Research suggests that narcissists are at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The link between narcissism and Alzheimer's disease isn't completely clear, but it may be caused by the long-term effects of narcissistic personality disorder on the brain.
“As narcissists do not have empathy, they are not able to genuinely care or love you,” explains Davey. Instead, narcissists will only have people in their lives that benefit them; they are very selfish people. “They are number one in their lives.
That narcissistic personality can take a toll — and not just on the listeners. It turns out that the more narcissistic a person is, the more likely he (and, yes, it's especially true of men) is to have health problems like heart disease and hypertension.
Children who grow up with a narcissistic parent tend to suffer from at least some of the following as children and as adults: anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, self-doubt, self-blame, indecision, people-pleasing tendencies, difficulties with emotional intimacy, and codependent relationships.
At the end of a relationship, narcissists may become combative, passive-aggressive, hostile, and even more controlling. People with NPD often fail to understand other people's needs and values. They are hyper focused on their egos, but do not account for how their actions affect others.
According to research, people with narcissistic personality disorder have reduced gray matter volume in areas of the brain related to empathy and increased activity on baseline images in brain regions associated with self-directed and self-absorbed thinking.
When children suffer at the hands of a narcissistic abuser, some crucial brain regions are affected, including damage to the hippocampus and amygdala. These changes lead to devastating effects on the lives of these children.
According to Julie L. Hall, author of “The Narcissist in Your Life: Recognizing the Patterns and Learning to Break Free,” narcissists become more extreme versions of their worst selves as they age, which includes becoming more desperate, deluded, paranoid, angry, abusive, and isolated.
Sociopaths are more dangerous than narcissists. People with antisocial personality disorder are more likely to be engaged in an abusive or controlling relationship. They're also more likely to be involved in illegal activities or financial fraud schemes.
They have the courage to takes risks and the resilience to bounce back from perceived failures. The narcissistic traits act as a buffer to life's stressors and keep them motivated for change. Failures are not viewed as setbacks, but as ways to re-evaluate what didn't work and to take a new approach.
As we get older, we all require more care and support from those around us. An elderly narcissist struggles greatly with the idea of looking weak or relying on others. In response to the natural aging process, they may become more hostile, more self-centered, and more inflexible.
New research found the personality trait can also lead to people feeling less stressed and being less vulnerable to depression than others. Narcissistic personality disorder is characterised by a person believing there are special reasons that make them different, better or more deserving than others.
One of the main characteristics of individuals with increased levels of vulnerable narcissism is anxiety. Inter alia because of their high hypersensitivity and insecurity, they often experience high levels of anxiety in social interactions, and therefore tend to avoid social contacts in the offline world [9, 23].
Narcissistic personality disorder involves a pattern of self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration. Others often describe people with NPD as cocky, manipulative, selfish, patronizing, and demanding.
Narcissistic personalities are particularly vulnerable to hypochondria and morbid fears of death. In an earlier blog, I wrote about one narcissistic dynamic present in some hypochondriacs – the search for an ideal mother who is concerned for the child's symptoms and expresses empathy for their pain.