Narcissistic personality disorder - Research Paper Example

All of these symptoms characterize an individual with poor social interactivity and will likely manifest opportunistic personality traits in the pursuit of exploiting others in their social and professional environments. The narcissist’s lack of empathy creates distance between himself and others in a variety of social and professional environments when disregard for the well-being of others becomes an ongoing, blatant display of self-importance. When confronted by others about these behaviors, an individual with this disorder should be expected to be defensive and manifest behaviors typical with a person who has experienced radical blows to their self-esteem.

The narcissist may become disruptive and begin a process of attempting to denigrate the confronter either publicly or privately in an effort to restore their own reputation, an attitude common with individuals who maintain absolutely false perceptions of reality. . n, this characterizes an individual with unhealthy relationship focus who will likely superimpose false self-confidence over what is actually low self-esteem that continues to place the narcissist amid a distorted reality that leads to unsatisfying relationships and extreme grandiosity that can produce antagonistic responses from others they encounter in their social environment.

The triggers of narcissistic personality do not seem to be universally defined, however some of these attitudes of self-importance are developed earlier in adolescence during the period of cognitive development where the individual is experiencing identity formation, influenced by parental involvement or the quality of adolescent relationships during these formative years. However, there is also evidence that environmental triggers also lead to the development of narcissistic personality disorder that occur later in adult life.

As one relevant example of adult onset narcissistic personality disorder, consider a high-performing salesperson who rises to authority quickly and is especially talented in a specific creative field. Constant attention and endorsement from superiors can lead an individual to experience sensations of invincibility that impact the quality of relationships with coworkers and senior-level management. An individual fitting this classification may abuse their expense accounts, degrade associates, and begins to lose personal understanding of how this behavior disturbs the quality of relationships in the professional environment (McDonald, 88).

In this lifestyle scenario, the trigger of narcissistic personality disorder is constant reassurance from important colleagues or superiors that the individual is successful and provides extreme value to the organization for their