Toxic Narcissism: A Hidden Enemy
Toxic Narcissism: A Hidden Enemy
Part 2: Defining Traits of the Narcissist.
In the first part of this series I explained what general narcissism is and how it differs from the chronic narcissism of someone suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder or NPD. To read the first part, please click here. It's now time to introduce some common traits to be found in those who have NPD. As mentioned previously, those with NPD can be tentatively categorised in one of two ways. The first is the covert narcissist, also known as the shy narcissist. The other type of narcissist is overt. The difference should become apparent as you continue reading. An effort has been made here to be objective in my analysis below but I would say it is not entirely correct nor objective in the strictest sense. The reader may disagree with which trait should be assigned to which personality and this is quite acceptable. It is also quite possible to attribute traits of the covert and overt narcissist in one person. I should add that my observations have only been based on a few individuals. Though many of my interpretations do find agreement in other literature on the subject, some conclusions are my own. It should also be noted that two of the NPD sufferers observed were married, one being covert, the other overt. I will discuss this partnership a little later. The main aim here is to help the reader to at least begin to identify NPD in the first place. The hope is that one may better determine whether they are in relationship to a person with NPD. In beginning to identify this condition, the victim may then be able to consider possible solutions. This will also be discussed later. Lastly, it is the aim of this article to spur the reader on to further reading in order to understand this very prevalent but poorly understood condition. Let’s look now at likely symptoms of both covert(shy) and overt sufferers of NPD:
