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New Narc City
By TIM HALL

Narcissism is hot. In the wake of the dot-com implosion and recent
business scandals, many are focusing their attention on what
otherwise might have remained an obscure psychological disorder.
Much of the New Economy bubble seems to have arisen from narcissism
run amok: The grandiosity of crooked executives and their haughty
contempt for business and accounting procedures; the relentless
manipulation of (and by) investors, analysts, and employees; the
utter lack of empathy for others; the complete and total denial of
any wrongdoing when everything fell apart.

Sam Vaknin is the world's leading expert on narcissism. He's also a
narcissist himself. He was diagnosed with the illness in 1996 while
serving a prison term in his native Israel. Before his imprisonment
on fraud-related charges, Vaknin was an award-winning writer and an
accomplished businessman. He is also well-educated, having earned a
doctorate in philosophy from Pacific Western University in
California.

With his life in shambles, Vankin attempted to understand the
disorder that had come to define his existence. The result of this
painful self-scrutiny and research was Malignant Self-Love:
Narcissism Revisited (Narcissus Publications), an essential text on
the subject of narcissism and a consistent top-seller at the Barnes
& Noble website.

It's important to understand what is meant by pathological, or
malignant, narcissism. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) defines Narcissistic
Personality Disorder (NPD) as "A pervasive pattern of grandiosity
(in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy."

According to the DSM-IV, the disorder begins by early adulthood and
is indicated by the subject exhibiting at least five of the
following:

1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance

2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power,
brilliance, beauty, or
ideal love

3. Believes he is "special" and can only be understood by, or should
associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

4. Requires excessive admiration

5. Has a sense of entitlement

6. Selfishly takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends

7. Lacks empathy

8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of
him

9. Shows arrogant, haughty, patronizing, or contemptuous behaviors
or attitudes

It's also important to understand that everybody has some
narcissistic traits, and that a certain amount of narcissism is a
healthy thing. What's different about NPD is that the symptoms are
stable and persistent over time and pervade every aspect of the
person's existence. Though estimated to be present in only about one
percent of the population, NPD is widespread enough that almost
everybody is likely to encounter at least one narcissist in their
lives. It is usually an extremely disagreeable and memorable event
for the non-narcissistic. For a relatively healthy person, the first
response to a narcissist's grandiosity, haughtiness and odd body
language is often bemusement. But later, as the narcissist reveals
him- or herself to be manipulative, predatory and lacking in
empathy, this bemusement turns to disgust until, finally, the
healthy individual is forced to cut all ties with the narcissist.
This often ends with upsetting results, as narcissists are
notoriously spiteful and vicious.).

According to Dr. Vaknin, narcissists are "dangerous to your health."
But what if they're in charge of major corporations worth hundreds
of billions of dollars? A look at the havoc caused by the management
of WorldCom, Enron, Adelphia and Tyco make clear the sort of danger
that narcissists pose to the economy and the world at large.

Dr. Vaknin lives in Skopje, Macedonia. Via email, we discussed what
may well be the defining malady of our age.

I'm very interested in the concept of corporate narcissism. Many
companies are successful without also engaging in criminal behavior.
In your opinion, how much of the recent wave of business scandals in
the U.S. is attributable to a corporate "culture of narcissism," and
how much to a number of very misguided—and possibly narcissistic—
individuals?

The "few rotten apples" theory ignores the fact that affairs like
Enron and WorldCom were not isolated incidents—nor were they
conducted conspiratorially and surreptitiously. What is now
conveniently labeled "misconduct" was an open secret. Information—
albeit often relegated to footnotes—was available. The charismatic
malignant narcissists who headed these corporations were cheered on
by investors—small and institutional alike. Their grandiose
fantasies were construed as visionary. Their sense of entitlement—
never commensurate with their actual achievements—was tolerated
forgivingly. Their blatant exploitation of co-workers and
stakeholders was part of the ethos of the virile Anglo-Saxon,
natural selection, can-do, dare-do version of capitalism. Everyone
colluded in this mass psychosis. There are no victims here—only
scapegoats.

In the late 1990s, you couldn't swing a dead cat on lower Broadway
without hitting a dozen Internet "visionaries," touting companies
that then went bankrupt. These individuals seemed to literally come
out of nowhere—suddenly everybody was a Genius with a Big Idea. Do
you have any thoughts on whether certain business cycles (like the
Internet boom) actually create narcissists? Or do they simply
attract preexisting narcissists looking for quick and easy wealth?

The latter. Pathological (or malignant) narcissism is the outcome of
a confluence of an appropriate genetic predisposition and early
childhood abuse by role models, caretakers or peers. It is
ubiquitous, because every human being—regardless of the nature of
his society and culture—develops healthy narcissism early in life.
Healthy narcissism is rendered pathological by abuse—and abuse,
alas, is a universal human behavior. By "abuse" I mean any refusal
to acknowledge the emerging boundaries of the individual. Thus,
smothering, doting and excessive expectations are as abusive as
beating and incest.

Pathological narcissism, though, can be latent and induced to emerge
by what I call "collective narcissism." The way pathological
narcissism manifests and is experienced is dependent on the
particulars of societies and cultures. In some cultures, it is
encouraged. In others suppressed. In collectivist societies, it may
be projected onto the collective; in individualistic societies, it
is an individual's trait.

Families, businesses, industries, organizations, ethnic groups,
churches and even whole nations can be safely described
as "narcissistic" or "pathologically self-absorbed."

The longer the association or affiliation of the members, the more
cohesive and conformist the inner dynamics of the group, the more
shared are its grandiose fantasies ("the vision thing"), the more
persecutory or numerous its enemies, the more misunderstood and
exclusionary it feels, the more intensive the physical and emotional
experiences of its members—the stronger the bonding myth. The more
rigorous the common pathology.

Such an all-pervasive and extensive malaise manifests itself in the
behavior of each and every member. It is a defining—though often
implicit or underlying—mental structure. It has explanatory and
predictive powers. It is recurrent and invariable—a pattern of
conduct melded with distorted cognition and stunted emotions. And it
is often vehemently denied.

What steps might a corporation take to protect itself from being
ruined by this kind of narcissistic contagion?

The first—and most obvious—step is screening. Mental health
management is often considered a low organizational priority—
frequently with calamitous outcomes. Employees on all levels—
especially the upper echelons—should be tested periodically and
regularly by professional diagnosticians for personality disorders.
Those who test positive should be sacked.

There is no way of containing narcissism. It is contagious—weaker
people tend to emulate narcissists, stronger ones tend to adopt
narcissistic behaviors in order to fend off the narcissist's
unwelcome attentions and overweening demands.

Narcissistic behavior—bullying, stalking, harassment, criminal
predilections—should be proscribed and punished severely. Management
should be attuned to warning signs such as a persistent and
recurrent inability to get along with all coworkers; a domineering
sense of entitlement; unrealistic and grandiose fantasies; requiring
excessive attention; responding with rage to criticism or
disagreement; excessive and destructive envy; exploitativeness; lack
of empathy. Pathological narcissism rarely manifests in a first
encounter—but is invariably revealed later on.

Would you say the Catholic Church is suffering from a kind of
collective narcissism, given its history of protecting child
molesters?

No. I would say that it is showing the same sense of self-
preservation and mob-like clubbiness that has characterized its
history. The doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope, the Church's
claim to possess privileged knowledge and unique access to the
Creator, its pronounced lack of empathy for the victims of its
misconduct, its self-righteous conviction, its belief that it is
above human laws, its rigidity and so on—are all narcissistic traits
and behavior patterns. But, to my mind, as an organization, it has
crossed the line between pathological narcissism and psychopathy
long ago. But then, I am a Jew and, therefore, somewhat biased.

In an interview on healthyplace.com, in response to a question about
how to reason and negotiate with a narcissist, you said, "That's a
tough one. The narcissist is autistic." That interested me because I
had just been reading about Asperger's Disorder, which is considered
to be a form of high-functioning autism. In some ways, the symptoms
are similar to NPD. Can you explain in some more detail about what
you meant? Are you aware of any research linking AD with NPD?

People suffering from Asperger's Disorder lack empathy, are
sensitive to the point of paranoid ideation, and are rigid with some
obsessive-compulsive behaviors—all features of the Narcissistic
Personality Disorder. As a result, their social skills are impaired
and their social interactions thwarted. The presenting symptoms of
both disorders are very similar. It is easy to misinterpret the
Asperger's body language as haughtiness, for instance. Still,
scholars today regard Asperger as part of a "schizoid spectrum" in
common with the Schizoid Personality Disorder rather than the
narcissistic one.

On your site, you say that a narcissist can change his behavior, but
usually only after his world is in shambles. Further, even if he
does change his behavior, he cannot heal. This reminded me of
the "bottoming-out" process that many drug addicts and alcoholics
must go through before they will seek help. Likewise, 12-step
movements assert that no addict is ever "cured." Can the
philosophies of AA be successfully applied to the narcissist, or
help in understanding narcissism?

The narcissist is addicted to a drug—his "narcissistic supply." He
craves and relentlessly and ruthlessly pursues attention. In the
absence of positive attention—adulation, admiration, affirmation,
applause, fame, or celebrity—the narcissist makes do with the
negative kind (notoriety, infamy). The dynamics of the narcissistic
disorder, therefore, closely resemble the psychological dimensions
of drug addiction, including the "bottoming-out" that you mentioned.
I believe that the treatment modalities preferred by AA, Weight
Watchers and 12-step programs should prove applicable to the
Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Perhaps it is time to establish
Narcissists Anonymous.

Is the narcissist unwilling to change, or unable to change?

The narcissist is unwilling to change because pathological
narcissism has been an adaptive and efficient reaction to the
narcissist's life circumstances. Wilhelm Reich called the amalgam of
such defense mechanisms an "armor." It restricts one's freedom of
movement, but keeps out hurt and threat. The narcissist overcomes
adversity by pretending it isn't there or by reinterpreting events
and circumstances to conform to his grandiose and fantastic internal
landscape of perfection, omnipotence and omniscience.

The precarious balance of his chaotic and primitive personality
vitally depends on the maintenance and furtherance of his
narcissism. All narcissists are dimly aware that something has gone
awry early on in their lives. But none of them sees why he should
replace an existence of splendor—albeit mostly imaginary—with the
drabness of the quotidian.

What is your advice to somebody who might read this and think that
they live or work with a narcissist? What's the first thing they
should do?

The first and the last thing they should do is disengage. Run,
abandon, vanish. Make no excuses. Narcissism is dangerous to your
health.

Regarding your own experience with NPD: with such a poor prognosis
for sufferers, aren't you at least beating the odds when it comes to
NPD? Would you say you are winning the battle, if not the war?

Undoubtedly, I have succeeded to harness the usually destructive
power of narcissism and apply it productively for the common benefit
of everyone involved. But it is still narcissism. I am still—
exclusively—after narcissistic supply. I am as grandiose, as
exploitative, as lacking empathy as I ever was. I feel as entitled
as I ever did. I fly into rages, idealize and devalue and, in
general, exhibit the full spectrum of narcissistic behaviors.

Narcissism is a dynamic. Its outcomes can be either socially
acceptable or condemnable—but the underlying corrosive phenomenon is
the same. One cannot heal merely by cognitively accepting that one
is diseased. The assimilation of such an insight requires an
emotional complement, an investment of feelings and humility. I lack
these.

I once wrote in The Malignant Optimism of the Abused:

I often come across sad examples of the powers of self-delusion that
the narcissist provokes in his victims. It is what I call "malignant
optimism." People refuse to believe that some questions are
unsolvable, some diseases incurable, some disasters inevitable. They
see a sign of hope in every fluctuation. They read meaning and
patterns into every random occurrence, utterance, or slip. They are
deceived by their own pressing need to believe in the ultimate
victory of good over evil, health over sickness, order over
disorder. Life appears otherwise so meaningless, so unjust and so
arbitrary... So, they impose upon it a design, progress, aims, and
paths. This is magical thinking."

Volume 16, Issue 7



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