Narcissistic Personality Disorder

People with Narcissistic Personality Disorder typically have a highly inflated sense of self-importance. They may need excessive amounts of admiration, and they usually lack empathy toward others. They often display a condescending or snobbish attitude toward others. Because of how they treat those around them, people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder often have difficulty maintaining their relationships.
A personality is disordered when one’s behaviors, thoughts, and feeling patterns toward the world, toward oneself, and toward others are maladaptive, incongruent, or inflexible. A personality disorder impairs one’s ability to function in the world. To be diagnosed with a personality disorder, the pattern of deviant behaviors and distress needs to be long-standing and manifest across different situations.
3 Important Facts
- Roughly 6.2 percent of the general U.S. population has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Although more males are diagnosed than females, both genders can have it.
- Like other personality disorders, NPD symptoms decrease in severity over time, particularly in a person’s 40s and 50s.
- Traits of personality disorders usually begin appearing during preteen and teen years, when personality is more established. But traits can begin in childhood.