Narcissists Do
Not Love Themselves
NARCISSUSES LOVE OTHER PEOPLE'S IMPRESSIONS OF THEM
We
all love ourselves. That seems to be such an instinctively true statement that
we do not bother to examine it more thoroughly. In our daily affairs – in love,
in business, in other areas of life – we act on this premise. Yet, upon closer
inspection, it looks shakier.
Some people explicitly state that they do not love themselves at all (they are
ego-dystonic). Others confine their lack of self-love to certain of their
traits, to their personal history, or to some of their behavior patterns. Yet
others feel content with who they are and with what they are doing
(ego-syntonic).
But one group of people seems distinct in its mental constitution – narcissists.
According to the legend of Narcissus, this Greek boy fell in love with his own
reflection in a pond. In a way, this amply sums up the nature of his namesakes:
narcissists. The mythological Narcissus rejected the advances of the nymph Echo
and was punished by Nemesis. Consigned to pine away as he fell in love with his
own reflection – exactly as Echo had pined away for him. How apt. Narcissists
are punished by echoes and reflections of their problematic personalities up to
this very day.
Narcissists are said to be in love with themselves.
But this is a fallacy. Narcissus is not in love with himself. He is in love
with his reflection. There is a
major difference between one's True Self and reflected-self. Loving your True Self is healthy, adaptive,
and functional. Loving a reflection has two major drawbacks:
1. One depends on the existence and availability of the reflection to
produce the emotion of self-love.
2. The absence of a "compass", an "objective and
realistic yardstick", by which to judge the authenticity of the
reflection.
In
other words, it is impossible to tell whether the reflection is true to reality
– and, if so, to what extent.
The popular misconception is that narcissists love themselves. In reality,
they direct their love to other people's impressions of them. He who loves
only impressions is incapable of loving people, himself included.
But the narcissist does possess the in-bred desire to love and to be loved. If
he cannot love himself – he must love his reflection. But to love his reflection
– it must be loveable. Thus, driven by the insatiable urge to love (which we
all possess), the narcissist is preoccupied with projecting a loveable
image, albeit compatible with his self-image (the way he "sees"
himself).
The narcissist maintains this projected image and invests resources and energy
in it, sometimes depleting him to the point of rendering him vulnerable to
external threats.
But the most important characteristic of the narcissist's projected image is
its lovability.
To a narcissist, love is interchangeable with other emotions, such as awe,
respect, admiration, attention, or even being feared (These are the feed of his self love, or the
Supply). Thus, to him, a projected image, which provokes these reactions in
others, is both "loveable and loved". It also feels like self-love.
The more successful this projected image (or series of successive images) is in
generating Narcissistic Supply (NS) – the more the narcissist becomes divorced
from his True Self and married to the image.
I am not saying that the narcissist does not have a central nucleus of a
"self". All I am saying is that he prefers his image – with which he
identifies unreservedly – to his True Self. The True Self becomes serf to the
Image. The narcissist, therefore, is not selfish – because his True Self is paralyzed
and subordinate.
The narcissist is not attuned exclusively to his needs. On the contrary: he
ignores them because many of them conflict with his ostensible omnipotence and
omniscience. He does not put himself first – he puts his self last. He caters
to the needs and wishes of everyone around him – because he craves their love
and admiration. It is through their reactions that he acquires a sense of
distinct self. In many ways he annuls himself – only to re-invent himself
through the look of others. He is the person most insensitive to his true
needs.
The narcissist drains himself of mental energy in this process. This is why he
has none left to dedicate to others. This fact, as well as his inability to
love human beings in their many dimensions and facets, ultimately transform him
into a recluse. His soul is fortified and in the solace of this fortification
he guards its territory jealously and
fiercely. He protects what he perceives to constitute his independence.
Why should people indulge the narcissist? And what is the
"evolutionary", survival value of preferring one kind of love
(directed at an image) to another (directed at one's self)?
These questions torment the narcissist. His convoluted mind comes up with the
most elaborate contraptions in lieu of answers.
Why should people indulge the narcissist, divert time and energy, give him
attention, love and adulation? The narcissist's answer is simple: because he is
entitled to it. He feels that he
deserves whatever he succeeds to extract from others and much more. Actually,
he feels betrayed, discriminated against and underprivileged because he
believes that he is not being treated fairly, that he should get more than he
does.
There is a discrepancy between his infinite certainty that his is a special
status which renders him worthy of recurrent praise and adoration, replete with
special benefits and prerogatives – and the actual state of his affairs. To the
narcissist, this status of uniqueness is bestowed upon him not by virtue of his
achievements, but merely because he exists.
The narcissist's deems his mere existence as sufficiently unique to warrant the
kind of treatment that he expects to get from the world. Herein lies a paradox,
which haunts the narcissist: he derives his sense of uniqueness from the very
fact that he exists and he derives his sense of existence from his belief that
he is unique.
Clinical data show that there is rarely any realistic basis for these grandiose
notions of greatness and uniqueness.
Some narcissists are high achievers with proven track records. Some of them are
pillars of their communities. Mostly, they are dynamic and successful. Still,
they are ridiculously pompous and inflated personalities, bordering on
the farcical and provoking resentment.
The narcissist is forced to use other people in order to feel that he exists.
It is trough their eyes and through their behavior that he obtains proof of his
uniqueness and grandeur. He is a habitual "people-junkie". With time,
he comes to regard those around him as mere instruments of gratification, as
two-dimensional cartoon figures with
negligible lines in the script of his magnificent life.
He becomes unscrupulous, never bothered by the constant exploitation of his
milieu, indifferent to the consequences of his actions, the damage and the pain
that he inflicts on others and even the social condemnation and sanctions that
he often has to endure.
When a person persists in a dysfunctional, maladaptive or plain useless
behavior despite grave repercussions to himself and to others, we say that his
acts are compulsive. The narcissist is compulsive in his pursuit of
Narcissistic Supply. This linkage between narcissism and obsessive-compulsive
disorders sheds light on the mechanisms of the narcissistic psyche.
The narcissist does not suffer from a faulty sense of causation. He is not
oblivious to the likely outcomes of his actions and to the price he may have to
pay. But he doesn't care.
A personality whose very existence is a derivative of its reflection in other
people's minds is perilously dependent on these people's perceptions. They are
the Source of Narcissistic Supply (NSS). Criticism
and disapproval are interpreted as a sadistic withholding of said supply and as
a direct threat to the
narcissist's mental house of cards.
The narcissist lives in a world of all or nothing, of a constant "to be or
not be". Every discussion that he holds, every glance of every passer-by
reaffirms his existence or casts it in doubt. This is why the reactions of the
narcissist seem so disproportionate: he reacts to what he perceives to be a
danger to the very cohesion of his self. Thus, every minor disagreement with
a Source of Narcissistic Supply – another person – is interpreted as a threat
to the narcissist's very self-worth.
This is such a crucial matter, that the narcissist cannot take chances. He
would rather be mistaken then remain without Narcissistic Supply. He would
rather discern disapproval and unjustified criticism where there are none then
face the consequences of being caught off-guard.
The narcissist has to condition his human environment to refrain from
expressing criticism and disapproval of him or of his actions and decisions. He
has to teach people around him that these provoke him into frightful fits of
temper and rage attacks and turn him into a constantly cantankerous and
irascible person. His exaggerated reactions constitute a punishment for their
inconsiderateness and their ignorance of his true psychological state.
The narcissist blames others for his behavior, accuses them of provoking him
into his temper tantrums and believes firmly that "they" should be
punished for their "misbehavior". Apologies – unless accompanied
by verbal or other humiliation – are not enough. The fuel of the narcissist's
rage is spent mainly on vitriolic verbal send-offs directed at the (often
imaginary) perpetrator of the (oft innocuous) offence.
The narcissist – wittingly or not – utilises people to buttress his self-image
and to regulate his sense of self-worth. As long and in as much as they are
instrumental in achieving these goals, he holds them in high regard, they are
valuable to him. He sees them only through this lens. This is a result of his
inability to love others: he lacks empathy, he thinks utility, and, thus, he
reduces others to mere instruments.
If they cease to "function", if, no matter how inadvertently, they
cause him to doubt his illusory, half-baked, self-esteem – they are subjected
to a reign of terror. The narcissist then proceeds to hurt these
"insubordinates". He belittles and humiliates them. He displays
aggression and violence in myriad forms. His behavior metamorphoses,
kaleidoscopically, from over-valuing (idealizing) the useful person – to a
severe devaluation of same. The narcissist abhors, almost physiologically,
people judged by him to be "useless".
These rapid alterations between absolute overvaluation (idealization) to
complete devaluation make long-term interpersonal relationships with the
narcissist all but impossible.
The more pathological form of narcissism – the Narcissistic Personality
Disorder (NPD) – was defined
in successive versions of the American DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
published by the American Psychiatric Association) and the international ICD
(Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders,
published by the World Health Organization). It is useful to scrutinize these
geological layers of clinical observations and their interpretation.
In 1977 the DSM-III criteria included:
* An inflated valuation of oneself (exaggeration of talents and
achievements, demonstration of presumptuous self-confidence);
* Interpersonal exploitation (uses others to satisfy his needs and
desires, expects preferential treatment without undertaking mutual
commitments);
* Possesses expansive imagination (externalizes immature and
non-regimented fantasies, "prevaricates to redeem self-illusions");
* Displays supercilious imperturbability (except when the
narcissistic confidence is shaken), nonchalant, unimpressed and cold-blooded;
* Defective social conscience (rebels against the conventions of
common social existence, does not value personal integrity and the rights of
other people).
The narcissist is portrayed as a
monster, a ruthless and exploitative person. Yet, inside, the narcissist
suffers from a chronic lack of confidence and is fundamentally dissatisfied.
This applies to all narcissists. The distinction between
"compensatory" and "classic" narcissists is spurious. All
narcissists are walking scar tissue, the outcomes of various forms of abuse.
On the outside, the narcissist may appear to be labile and unstable, but, this
does not capture the barren landscape of misery and fears that is his soul. His
brazen and reckless behavior covers up for a depressive, anxious interior.
How can such contrasts coexist?
Some of us fail to grow beyond the phase of self-love, others refer to
themselves and prefer themselves as objects of love. This choice – to
concentrate on the self – is the result of an unconscious decision to give up a
consistently frustrating and unrewarding effort to love others and to trust
them.
The frustrated and abused child learns that the only "object" he can
trust and that is always and reliably available, the only person he can love
without being abandoned or hurt – is himself.
So, is pathological narcissism the outcome of verbal, sexual, physical, or
psychological abuse (the overwhelming view) – or, on the contrary, the sad
result of spoiling the child and idolizing it.
This debate is easier to resolve if one agrees to adopt a more comprehensive
definition of "abuse". Overweening, smothering, spoiling,
overvaluing, and idolizing the child – are also forms of parental abuse.
This is because the smothered and spoiled child is dehumanized and
instrumentalized. His parents love him not for what he really is – but for what
they wish and imagine him to be: the fulfillment of their dreams and frustrated
wishes. The child becomes the vessel of his parents' discontented lives, a tool,
the magic airbrush with which they seek to transform their failures into
successes, their humiliation into victory, their frustrations into happiness.
The child is taught to give up on reality and adopt the parental fantasies.
Such an unfortunate child feels omnipotent and omniscient, perfect and
brilliant, worthy of adoration and entitled to special treatment. The faculties
that are honed by constantly brushing against bruising reality – empathy,
compassion, a realistic assessment of one's abilities and limitations,
realistic expectations of oneself and of others, personal boundaries, team
work, social skills, perseverance and goal-orientation, not to mention the
ability to postpone gratification
and to work hard to achieve it – are all lacking or missing altogether.
This kind of child turned adult sees no reason to invest resources in his
skills and education, convinced that his inherent genius should suffice. He
feels entitled for merely being, rather than for actually doing (rather as the
nobility in days gone by felt entitled not by virtue of its merits but as the
inevitable, foreordained outcome of its
birth right). The narcissist is not meritocratic – but aristocratic.
Such a mental structure is brittle, susceptible to criticism and disagreement,
vulnerable to the incessant encounter with a harsh and intolerant world. Deep
inside, narcissists of both kinds (those wrought by "classic" abuse
and those yielded by being idolized) – feel inadequate, phony, fake, inferior,
and deserving of punishment.
There is only one type of pathological narcissism – though there are two
developmental paths to it. And all narcissists are besieged by deeply ingrained
(though at times not conscious) feelings of inadequacy, fears
of failure, masochistic desires to be penalized, a fluctuating sense of
self-worth (regulated by NS), and an overwhelming sensation of fakeness.
In the early childhoods of all narcissists, meaningful others are inconsistent
in their acceptance. They pay attention to the narcissist only when they wish
to satisfy their needs. They tend to ignore him – or
actively abuse him – when these needs are no longer pressing or existent.
The narcissist's past of abuse teaches him to avoid deeper relationships in
order to escape this painful approach-avoidance pendulum. Protecting himself
from hurt and from abandonment, he insulates himself from people around him. He
digs in – rather than spring out.
As children go through this phase of disbelief. We all put people around us
(the aforementioned objects) to recurrent tests. This is the "primary
narcissistic stage". A positive relationship with one's parents or
caregivers (Primary Objects) secures the smooth transition to "object
love". The child forgoes his narcissism.
Giving up one's narcissism is tough. Narcissism is alluring, soothing, warm and
dependable. It is always present and omnipresent. It is custom tailored to the
needs of the individual. To love oneself is to have the perfect lover. Good
reasons and strong forces – collectively known as "parental love" –
are required to motivate the child to give its narcissism up.
The division of labor between parents and children is vital both to personal
growth and to proper adaptation. The child must feel, as he does in a
functional family, that he can share his experiences without being defensive
and that the feedback that he is getting is open and unbiased. The only
"bias" acceptable (often because it is consonant with feedback from
the outside) is the family's set of beliefs, values and goals that are finally
internalized by the child by way of imitation and unconscious identification.
So, the family is the first and the most important source of identity and
emotional support. It is a greenhouse, where the child feels loved, cared for,
accepted, and secure – the prerequisites for the development of personal
resources. On the material level, the family should provide the basic
necessities (and, preferably, beyond), physical care and protection, and refuge
and shelter during crises.
The role of the mother (the Primary Object) has been often discussed. The
father's part is mostly neglected, even in professional literature. However,
recent research demonstrates his importance to the orderly and
healthy development of the child.
The father participates in the day-to-day care, is an intellectual catalyst,
who encourages the child to develop his interests and to satisfy his curiosity
through the manipulation of various instruments and games. He is a source of
authority and discipline, a boundary setter, enforcing and encouraging positive
behaviors and eliminating
negative ones.
The father also provides emotional support and economic security, thus
stabilizing the family unit. Finally, he is the prime source of masculine
orientation and identification to the male child – and gives warmth and love as
a male to his daughter, without exceeding the socially permissible limits.
We can safely say that the narcissist's family is as severely disordered as he
is. Pathological narcissism is largely a reflection of this dysfunction. Such
an environment breeds self-deception. The narcissist's internal dialogue is
"I do have a relationship with my parents. It is my fault – the fault of
my emotions, sensations, aggressions and passions – that this relationship is
not working. It is, therefore, my responsibility to make amends. I will
cnstruct a narrative in which I am both loved and punished. In this script, I
will allocate roles to myself and to my parents. This way, everything will be
fine and we will all be happy."
Thus starts the cycle of over-valuation (idealization) and devaluation. The
dual roles of sadist and punished masochist (Superego and Ego), parent and
child, permeate all the narcissist's interactions with other
people.
The narcissist experiences a reversal of roles as his relationships progress.
At the beginning of a relationship he is the child in need of attention,
approval and admiration. He becomes dependent. Then, at the first sign of
disapproval (real or imaginary), he is transformed into an avowed sadist,
punishing and inflicting pain.
It is commonly agreed that a loss (real or perceived) at a critical junction in
the psychological development of the child forces him to refer to himself for
nurturing and for gratification. The child ceases to trust others and his
ability to develop object love, or to idealize is hampered. He is constantly
haunted by the feeling that only he can
satisfy his emotional needs.
He exploits people, sometimes unintentionally, but always ruthlessly and
mercilessly. He uses them to obtain confirmation of the accuracy of his
grandiose self-portrait.
The narcissist is usually above treatment. He knows best. He feels superior to
his therapist in particular and to the science of psychology in general. He
seeks treatment only following a major life crisis, which directly threatens
his projected and perceived image. Even then he only wishes to restore the
previous balance.
Therapy sessions with the narcissist resemble a battlefield. He is aloof and
distanced, demonstrates his superiority in a myriad ways, resents what he
perceives to be an intrusion on his innermost sanctum. He is offended by any
hint regarding defects or dysfunctions in his personality or in his behavior.
A narcissist is a narcissist is a narcissist – even when he asks for help with
his world and worldview shattered.
Why This Lesson in True Narcissists?
This
psychological explanation of Narcissists may seem out of place on my web site,
dedicated to unity of truth in Religious matters. But I have often wonders what drives false mystics or fake
priests to go to such extremes for attention, and even adoration. Often they do great penances and
sacrifices. In my personal life I have
had close relationships with four Narcissists, and in each case, when I did not
agree that they were human gods, I was attacked as a demon, even to extravagant
lies about me.
The
same thing happens in this work of the truth about people who claim to be
directed by God, but in fact are nothing more than addicted Narcissists. A true mystic welcomes critics and skeptics,
because they place their trust in God, and not in what others think of them,
whereas the false mystic is driven by what others think of him or her, and
cannot stay in the background or in seclusion, because they need constant human
verification of their real but sick imagination that they are specially chosen
by God.
In
my personal life I have learned something that I want to pass on to you. If you are involved with a Narcissist, run
away because if you do not constantly feed his or her ego, he will attack you
in any way he can. Truth does not
matter to a Narcissist, only revenge for you not feeding his ego.
After
many years of dealing with these people in a very honest and charitable way, I
have concluded that this one type of person cannot be cured.
They
best cure is for everyone to just stop feeding him false adoration, and he will
starve to death.