Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Living with a person that has characteristics of a person with narcissistic personality disorder or (NPD) will be one of the most trying situations you will ever face. Those who suffer with this disorder shows feelings of an over-exaggerated self-worth, is convinced that he/she is unique, requires an excessive amount of admiration from those around them. This disorder consumes every waking moment of the person’s life and is therefore transferred onto those closest to him/her. Interestingly enough most who suffer from narcissistic personality disorder are men, approximately 75%.

One suffering from NPD is unable to acknowledge or care about the feelings of others, they lack empathy. A display of arrogance in any given situation along with the feeling of entitlement will often times be shown. This person can have an envious nature and likewise assume that others feel the same about them and their accomplishments. Any request that is made of those around him is expected to be taken care of immediately.

Being in a relationship with such a self-absorbed individual is tiring, you have to be prepared to put your needs on hold most of the time. This can be very frustrating to those who live with this person. Often throughout the relationship there are bouts of verbal and emotional abuse. This will include actions such as:

� You are made to feel guilty about things that have nothing to do with you.
� Any issues that you may have is readily dismissed as being an overreaction.
� Often you are blamed for any and every unfortunate event in their self-absorbed lives.
� Emotionally you are capable of understanding how they must feel about a situation but they are incapable of understanding yours.
� They will never ever listen to you
� Constant criticism of your looks, not making enough money or of anything to cause you to question if he/she is maybe right.
� Failure to provide a sensitive and caring response to your needs.
� Becomes detached when dealing with those close to him by ignoring or giving the silent treatment

This type of ongoing emotional abuse can be devastating in a relationship situation. A person’s self-work can become severely damaged even destroyed by this type of abuse.

In children that are exposed to this type of abuse from a parent, they may experience an impairment of psychological development. Areas that may be affected in children may include memory, imagination, moral development and even their intelligence. Social development can also be impaired in ways such as in their ability to perceive, feel, understand or express emotions to others.

Those with NPD know they can depend on only one reliable source for unconditional love – themselves.