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Why Narcissism Is Not That
Merriam-Webster exemplifies narcissism as:
1: EGOISM, EGOCENTRISM… up until my late 30’s I lived in a state of utterly monstrous narcissism and self-absorption … — Frank Conroy
2: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER One of the premier diagnoses of our times, narcissism is a reflection not only of an apparent trend in mental illness but also of the strains and distortions in the lives of essentially healthy people. — Robert Karen
3: love of or sexual desire of one’s own body.
If you believe narcissism is (1) egoism, (2) a personality disorder, and (3) auto-eroticism, then this article was written for you. For such common descriptions of narcissism are some of the least reliable definitions and diagnoses that can be made: not only was narcissism distinguished from egoism and auto-eroticism long ago but to date, there have been no psychiatric clinical trials examining the treatment of a narcissistic personality disorder¹.
This article was also written as an antidote to the common trashing of narcissism that floats around in the market place of pop psychology. Such trashings can be found in pop-psychology adverts ranging on the silly scale from better, The Curse of Narcissism, Narcissism 101, to worse The Most Dangerous Types of…
