In Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article about Sarah Palin, Purdum noted that several Alaskans told him "they had consulted the definition of `narcissistic personality disorder' in trying to understand their governor. This disorder, Purdum points out, is marked by "a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy."
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration. They believe that they're superior to others and have little regard for other people's feelings. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem, vulnerable to the slightest criticism.
Megalomania is similar term. It is a historical term for behavior characterized by an obsession or preoccupation with wealth, power, genius, or omnipotence—often generally termed as delusions of grandeur or grandiose delusions. Megalomania denotes an obsession with having and/or obtaining, grandiosity and extravagance.
One common feature with NPD and megalomania is that the individual with this condition is 'always right. ' Where have we heard that before?
Announcer: Now from Midtown Manhattan, New York City's most listened to host...Rush Limbaugh.
Rush: "Hi Ya folks. Ah, welcome back. Rush Limbaugh here, highly trained broadcast specialist executing assigned host duties flawlessly. Zero mistakes, now documented to be almost always right 98.8 percent of the time. It's an amazing feat. Never the less, ah, take it for what it is. We're very proud of it.
Is Rush Limbaugh a narcissist? He certainly exhibits the features of one and his three failed marriages suggests he is hard to live with. Narcissists are authoritarian and authoritarianism is a hallmark of the right wing. James Dean if Watergate infame recently wrote an op-ed piece in which he stated that the Goldwater conservatism of the past has morphed into simple authoritarianism. This started when Newt Gingrich became Speaker of the House. Newt was one of the most authoritarian personalties in modern US politics.
NPD is one of several types of personality disorders. Personality disorders are conditions that cause people to feel and behave in socially distressing ways, limiting their ability to function in relationships and in other areas of their life. In particular, NPD is characterized by dramatic, emotional behavior, in the same category as histrionic, antisocial and borderline personality disorders.
Narcissism is related to Obsessive–Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) is often confused with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Despite the similar names, they are two distinct disorders. People experiencing OCPD do not generally feel the need to repeatedly perform ritualistic actions—a common symptom of OCD. OCPD is sometimes associated with eating disorders.
The primary causes of OCPD are time, personal and/or social relationships, cleanliness and/or tidiness, and money. Completion of a task or problem by an OCPD individual can be affected when excessive time is used in getting such to be considered "right". Personal and social relationships are often under serious strain because the OCPD individual insists on being in charge and the only one who knows what is "right."
There are few moral 'gray' areas for a person with fully developed OCPD; actions and beliefs are either completely right, or absolutely wrong with the OCPD individual always 'in the right'. As might be expected, interpersonal relationships are difficult because of the excessive demands placed on friends, romantic partners and children. OCPD people are authoritarian 'my way or the highway' types.
If you were raised by an NPD or OCPD parent, then you've been taught that the parent is always right and you're the one who's wrong. This is also true of the OCPD parent. OCPD is more subtle because people who have it are usually only apparent at home, but not at work.
It's impossible to overemphasize the narcissists' lack of empathy. They always fill in their knowledge gaps with bits of behavior, ideas, tastes, and opinions borrowed from someone else whom they regard as an authority. For instance, and narcissists' opinions may actually come from someone you know, too, but to you is obviously not an authority on the matter. Rush Limbaugh seems to be a favorite of many with NPD and OCPD.
People with NPD or OCPD often try to take one example and generalize to everyone else. In their words they look at one tree and suggest the entire forest is that way. Rush Limbaugh does this on his radio show all of the time. For example a caller was complaining about Canadian medical care.
The Canadian wanted to go to a facility that was 30 minutes away for cancer treatment, but the government made him travel to one that was 3.5 hours away. This is a problem, but in the bigger scheme of things, Canadian health care is rated 30th in the world by the World Health Organization and the US is 37th. Limbaugh rarely talks about the 'big picture' forest on his show.
Because their inner life of a narcissist is restricted, it doesn't contain images of how to live a full life -- these things are not important to them, they expect others to look after day-to-day chores, they resent wasting their specialness on common things. They don't put their heart into their work, but they will complain how many hours they put into their job. They borrow their opinions and preferences and tastes from whomever strikes them as authoritative at the moment.
Narcissists have problems with cause and effect. They do not seem not to make logical memory associations as others do.
Narcissists get worse as they get older, with dramatic regression after the deaths of their parents and other personal authority figures who have exerted some control over the narcissists' bad behavior. Chronic depression may be obvious by their forties. Depressed narcissists blame the world, but not themselves for their personal disappointments.
One young man told his family in his early teens that he was going to live on the beach, be a millionaire, have two cars and boat by the time he was 35. He was doing below average is school and did not seem to have any extraordinary abilities. He even made a bet for $50 with a relative that he would achieve all of these goals. At age 37 he was driving a 10 year old car, had never owned a home and was still living with his parents.
When his relative said “game over' and asked for the $50, the man insisted he would still be able to achieve his 'dream' and the game was still on. Many people had called this man a 'dreamer' when he was younger because he had so many delusions about himself. Of course, this 'dreamer is a Rush ditto head.
Narcissists never outgrow their demands for dedicated attention to their needs. Adult narcissists can be as demanding of your time and energy as babies but without the gratification of their growing or learning anything from what they suck from you. In a household the narcissists thinks the home revolves around them.
So, yes, it's possible to get along with narcissists, but it's probably not worth bothering with. If family members are narcissists, you have my deep sympathy. If people you work with are narcissists, you will be wise to keep an eye on them because they are logically flawed. They feel that the rules don't apply to them, and they will always cut corners and take short cuts wherever they think they can get away with it.
Controversy constantly swirls around narcissist as it has around Sarah Palin. Why do you think Palin has US$500,000 in legal bills to defend against ethics complaints? The reason is simple: narcissists and people with OCPD are very manipulative and they tend to overreact when someone challenges their viewpoint.
One protester showed up at a Sarah Palin event with a placard for the Alaskan Independence Party that her husband had been a member of. Palin wanted to make a big issue about it, but Steve Schmidt, the McCain campaign manger, advised her to ignore it.
Palin kept insisting on a response. Of course, she was having trouble seeing the forest through the trees because the election was about John McCain, not Sarah Palin. Palin functioned in the McCain campaign as if she were also running for president. She constantly became a thorn in the side of John McCain by making contradictory statements. For example, the McCain camp abandoned Michigan late in the campaign, but Palin indicated she wanted to continue to campaign in Michigan. Huh!
Narcissists are threatened and enraged by trivial disagreements, mistakes, and misunderstandings. If you continue to live or work with narcissists, expect to have to clean up after them, expect to lose friends over them, expect big trouble sooner or later. Sarah Palin bombed in the presidential election and John McCain didn't even mention her as a presidential contender on the Leno show for 2012.
Narcissism and OCPD are personality disorders and narcissists' personalities are disordered: they don't make sense! They are not concerned with logic and they are impulsive. Don't try to understand everything they do. Does anyone really understand why Sarah Palin impulsively resigned as Governor of Alaska?
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