Portrait of the Narcissist as a Young Man
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/narcissisticabuse/message/5048
Narcissists and Mood Disorders
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/narcissisticabuse/message/5067
====================================================
Childhood emotional abuse raises risk of depression and social phobia
16/7/2007
Comparing the prevalence of emotional and physical or sexual abuse in
patients with depression or anxiety.
MedWire News: Children who experience emotional abuse are more likely to be
diagnosed with major depression and social phobia in later life than
children who experience physical or sexual abuse, say US scientists.
Previous research suggests that negative childhood experiences, such as
abuse, are linked to later psychopathology. But few studies have examined
this purported link in detail.
Brandon Gibb, from Binghamton University in New York, and colleagues studied
857 psychiatric outpatients who took part in the Rhode Island Methods to
Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services project.
The average age of the participants was 38.36 years, and their average
Global Assessment of Functioning score was 53.56.
The participants were administered the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Axis
I Disorders – Patient edition and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.
The team focused on current diagnoses of major depressive disorders,
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder with or without
agoraphobia and vice versa, social phobia, obsessive–compulsive disorder,
and generalized anxiety disorders.
In all, 44.7% of patients had major depression, 7.6% dysthymia, 10.9% PTSD,
19.0% panic/agoraphobia, 29.4% social phobia, 6.8% obsessive–compulsive
disorder, and 18.1% generalized anxiety disorders.
Childhood emotional abuse was significantly related to any depressive
disorder, major depression, any anxiety disorder, PTSD, and social phobia in
adulthood.
Childhood physical abuse was linked only to any anxiety disorder and
post-traumatic stress, as was childhood abuse.
The team reports in the journal Depression and Anxiety that these
associations remained after adjusting for age, gender, and race/ethnicity,
employing a Bonferroni correction, and performing a series of analyses of
the data.
They conclude: “Whereas PTSD appears to be globally related to a history of
childhood trauma, there is some evidence that emotional abuse is more
strongly related to the presence of major depression and social phobia in
adulthood than either physical or sexual abuse.
“Future research is needed to examine whether emotional abuse actually
contributes to the development of these disorders, as well as to identify
factors that may contribute to the development of one disorder versus
another.â€Â
Portrait of the Narcissist as a Young Man
I never was a child. I was a “wunderkind”, the answer to my mother’s prayers
and intellectual frustration. A human computing machine, a walking-talking
encyclopaedia, a curiosity, a circus freak. I was observed by developmental
psychologists, interviewed by the media, endured the envy of my peers and
their pushy mothers. I constantly clashed with figures of authority because
I felt entitled to special treatment, immune to prosecution and superior. It
was a narcissist’s dream. Abundant Narcissistic Supply - rivers of awe, the
aura of glamour, incessant attention, open adulation, country-wide fame.
I refused to grow up. In my mind, my tender age was an integral part of the
precocious miracle that I became. One looks much less phenomenal and one’s
exploits and achievements are much less awe-inspiring at the age of 40, I
thought. Better stay young forever and thus secure my Narcissistic Supply.
Plus, my life is my parents’ punishment. Childless and a sad failure, I keep
hoping against hope and counterfactually that they care enough to hurt.
http://samvak.tripod.com/narcissistyoung.html
The Narcissist as Eternal Child
The narcissist is a partial adult. He seeks to avoid adulthood.
Infantilisation – the discrepancy between one’s advanced chronological age
and one’s retarded behaviour, cognition, and emotional development – is the
narcissist’s preferred art form. Some narcissists even use a childish tone
of voice occasionally and adopt a toddler’s body language.
http://samvak.tripod.com/narcissistinfantile.html
The Narcissist’s Dead Parents
The narcissist has a complicated relationship with his parents (mainly with
his mother, but, at times, also with his father). As Primary Objects, the
narcissist’s parents are often a source of frustration which leads to
repressed or to self-directed aggression. They traumatise the narcissist
during his infancy and childhood and thwart his healthy development well
into his late adolescence.
http://samvak.tripod.com/faq54.html
The Narcissist - From Abuse to Suicide
Abuse splinters early childhood grandiose narcissistic fantasies of
uniqueness, omnipotence, invulnerability, and impenetrability. But it
enhances the fantasy of merger with an idealized and omnipotent (though not
benign) other – the inflicter of agony. The twin processes of individuation
and separation are reversed.
http://samvak.tripod.com/journal76.html
Narcissism at a Glance
Whether pathological narcissism are the results of genetic programming (see
Jose Lopez, Anthony Bemis and others) or of dysfunctional families and
faulty upbringing or of anomic societies and disruptive socialisation
processes - is still an unresolved debate. The scarcity of scientific
research, the fuzziness of the diagnostic criteria and the differential
diagnoses make it unlikely that this will be settled soon one way or the
other.
http://samvak.tripod.com/narcissismglance.html
The Depressive has pervasive and continuous depressive cognitions (thoughts)
and behaviors. They manifest themselves in every area of life and never
abate. The patient is gloomy, dejected, pessimistic, overly serious, lacks a
sense of humor, cheerless, joyless, and constantly unhappy. This dark mood
is not influenced by changing circumstances.
Continue to read this article here (click on this link):
http://samvak.tripod.com/personalitydisorders33.html
Many scholars consider pathological narcissism to be a form of depressive
illness. This is the position of the authoritative magazine “Psychology
Today”. The life of the typical narcissist is, indeed, punctuated with
recurrent bouts of dysphoria (ubiquitous sadness and hopelessness),
anhedonia (loss of the ability to feel pleasure), and clinical forms of
depression (cyclothymic, dysthymic, or other). This picture is further
obfuscated by the frequent presence of mood disorders, such as Bipolar I
(co-morbidity).
Continue to read this article here (click on this link):
http://samvak.tripod.com/journal83.html
Bipolar patients in the manic phase exhibit many of the signs and symptoms
of pathological narcissism - hyperactivity, self-centeredness, lack of
empathy, and control freakery. During this recurring chapter of the disease,
the patient is euphoric, has grandiose fantasies, spins unrealistic schemes,
and has frequent rage attacks (is irritable) if her or his wishes and plans
are (inevitably) frustrated.
Continue to read this article here (click on this link):
http://samvak.tripod.com/journal71.html
Question:
My husband is a narcissist and is constantly depressed. Is there any
connection between these two problems?
Answer:
Continue to read this article here (click on this link):
http://samvak.tripod.com/faq17.html
Question:
I know a narcissist intimately. Sometimes he is hyperactive, full of ideas,
optimism, plans. At other times, he is hypoactive, almost zombie-like.
Answer:
Continue to read this article here (click on this link):
http://samvak.tripod.com/faq43.html
Question:
Doesn’t the narcissist ever feel sorry for his “victims”?
Answer:
The narcissist always feels “bad”. He experiences all manner of depressive
episodes and lesser dysphoric moods. He goes through a full panoply of mood
disorders and anxiety disorders. He experiences panic from time to time. It
is not pleasant to be a narcissist.
Continue to read this article here (click on this link):
http://samvak.tripod.com/narcissistsorry.html
The Bipolar Disorder got its name because the mania is followed by - usually
protracted - depressive attacks. A similar pattern of mood shifts and
dysphorias occurs in many personality disorders such as the Borderline,
Narcissistic, Paranoid, and Masochistic.
Continue to read this article here (click on this link):