Narcissistic Personality Disorder: a Current Review

Overview

Journal Curr Psychiatry Rep

Publisher Current Science

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2010 Apr 29

PMID 20425313

Citations 19

Authors

Elsa Ronningstam

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder in the DSM-IV has been criticized foremost for its limitations in capturing the range and complexity of narcissistic pathology. The attention to the narcissistic individual's external, symptomatic, or social interpersonal patterns--at the expense of his or her internal complexity and individual suffering--has also added to the diagnosis' low clinical utility and limited guidance for treatment. Recent studies and reviews have pointed to the need for change in the diagnostic approach to and formulation of narcissism. This review focuses specifically on studies of features that add to the identification, understanding, and treatment of patients with pathological narcissistic functioning and narcissistic personality disorder. They have been integrated into a regulatory model that includes the functions and fluctuations of internal control, self-esteem, perfectionism with accompanying self-criticism, shame, and empathic ability and functioning.

Citing Articles

Adverse childhood experiences leading to narcissistic personality disorder: a case report.

Ross A, Giri S, Anyasodor A, Mahmood S, Astawesegn F, Huda M BMC Psychiatry. 2024; 24(1):842.

PMID: 39578751 PMC: 11583436. DOI: 10.1186/s12888-024-06307-9.

Exploring Narcissism in Suicidal Ideation Using the Italian Version of the Guilt and Shame Proneness Scale.

Velotti P, Faccini F, Rogier G, Marchegiani L, Amore M Alpha Psychiatry. 2024; 25(1):75-81.

PMID: 38799498 PMC: 11114148. DOI: 10.5152/alphapsychiatry.2024.231282.

Contribution of the alternative model for DSM-5 personality disorders to relationship satisfaction.

Savard C, Deschenes M, Gagne-Pomerleau E, Payant M, Mayrand K, Nolin M Front Psychiatry. 2024; 14:1291226.

PMID: 38283893 PMC: 10811608. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1291226.

Structural connectivity of grandiose versus vulnerable narcissism as models of social dominance and subordination.

Schmidt L, Pfarr J, Meller T, Evermann U, Nenadic I Sci Rep. 2023; 13(1):16098.

PMID: 37752194 PMC: 10522767. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41098-1.

Comparing the effectiveness of attention-seeking adjustment training and commitment-based training on family executive functions and narcissistic tendencies among married women with attention-seeking in Isfahan.

Khodaee S, Yousefi Z J Educ Health Promot. 2023; 12:232.

PMID: 37727426 PMC: 10506745. DOI: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_74_23.

References

Kris A . Helping patients by analyzing self-criticism. J Am Psychoanal Assoc. 1990; 38(3):605-36. DOI: 10.1177/000306519003800304. View

Ronningstam E, Gunderson J . Identifying criteria for narcissistic personality disorder. Am J Psychiatry. 1990; 147(7):918-22. DOI: 10.1176/ajp.147.7.918. View

Rhodewalt F, Morf C . On self-aggrandizement and anger: a temporal analysis of narcissism and affective reactions to success and failure. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1998; 74(3):672-85. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.74.3.672. View

Perry J, Perry J . Conflicts, defenses and the stability of narcissistic personality features. Psychiatry. 2005; 67(4):310-30. DOI: 10.1521/psyc.67.4.310.56570. View

Blatt S . The destructiveness of perfectionism. Implications for the treatment of depression. Am Psychol. 1995; 50(12):1003-20. DOI: 10.1037//0003-066x.50.12.1003. View

Trumbull D . Shame: an acute stress response to interpersonal traumatization. Psychiatry. 2003; 66(1):53-64. DOI: 10.1521/psyc.66.1.53.20288. View

Fossati A, Beauchaine T, Grazioli F, Carretta I, Cortinovis F, Maffei C . A latent structure analysis of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Narcissistic Personality Disorder criteria. Compr Psychiatry. 2005; 46(5):361-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2004.11.006. View

Hewitt P, Habke A, Lee-Baggley D, Sherry S, Flett G . The impact of perfectionistic self-presentation on the cognitive, affective, and physiological experience of a clinical interview. Psychiatry. 2008; 71(2):93-122. DOI: 10.1521/psyc.2008.71.2.93. View

Cain N, Pincus A, Ansell E . Narcissism at the crossroads: phenotypic description of pathological narcissism across clinical theory, social/personality psychology, and psychiatric diagnosis. Clin Psychol Rev. 2007; 28(4):638-56. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2007.09.006. View

10.

Otway L, Vignoles V . Narcissism and childhood recollections: a quantitative test of psychoanalytic predictions. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2005; 32(1):104-16. DOI: 10.1177/0146167205279907. View

11.

KERNBERG P . Narcissistic personality disorder in childhood. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1989; 12(3):671-94. View

12.

Glasser M . Problems in the psychoanalysis of certain narcissistic disorders. Int J Psychoanal. 1992; 73 ( Pt 3):493-503. View

13.

Kernis M, Cornell D, Sun C, Berry A, Harlow T . There's more to self-esteem than whether it is high or low: the importance of stability of self-esteem. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1993; 65(6):1190-204. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.65.6.1190. View

14.

Torgersen S, KRINGLEN E, Cramer V . The prevalence of personality disorders in a community sample. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2001; 58(6):590-6. DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.58.6.590. View

15.

Tangney J, Wagner P, Fletcher C, Gramzow R . Shamed into anger? The relation of shame and guilt to anger and self-reported aggression. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1992; 62(4):669-75. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.62.4.669. View

16.

Miller J, Campbell W, Pilkonis P . Narcissistic personality disorder: relations with distress and functional impairment. Compr Psychiatry. 2007; 48(2):170-7. PMC: 1857317. DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2006.10.003. View

17.

Decety J, Lamm C . Human empathy through the lens of social neuroscience. ScientificWorldJournal. 2006; 6:1146-63. PMC: 5917291. DOI: 10.1100/tsw.2006.221. View

18.

Maldonado J . Narcissistic resistances in the analytic experience. Int J Psychoanal. 2000; 80 ( Pt 6):1131-46. DOI: 10.1516/0020757991599322. View

19.

Jang K, Livesley W, Vernon P, Jackson D . Heritability of personality disorder traits: a twin study. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1996; 94(6):438-44. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1996.tb09887.x. View

20.

Stinson F, Dawson D, Goldstein R, Chou S, Huang B, Smith S . Prevalence, correlates, disability, and comorbidity of DSM-IV narcissistic personality disorder: results from the wave 2 national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions. J Clin Psychiatry. 2008; 69(7):1033-45. PMC: 2669224. DOI: 10.4088/jcp.v69n0701. View