Psychological Matters

Since the development of narcissism is due to childhood stresses, and no one has a perfect childhood, all of us have varying degrees of this dysfunction. Although a brief list of narcissistic traits and characteristics was provided in the last article, it still might be hard to determine if we display these characteristics on a day-to-day basis. I think Dr. Paul Meier’s  wonderful questionnaire in his book, You Might Be a Narcissist If ,  might be able to help us identify the daily presentation of narcissism.  The questionnaire does not having a scoring system, however we can evaluate how frequently we unconsciously and/or accidently behave in the manner described in each question. Narcissism Questionnaire 1.  Do I have a humble heart? Do I realize I’m not perfect and have both strengths as well as weaknesses---and don’t feel overly threatened to acknowledge either of them? 2.  Do I have empathy for others? Can I put myself in their shoes and imagine how my behavior has

What is narcissism? Narcissists have these common characteristics: Exaggerates their abilities or personal value   Are unable to empathize with others’ needs and concerns   Tend to use others to meet their own emotional and physical needs   Are unable to accept failure   Fear intimacy because they are afraid to be found out or exposed as a fraud or failure   Deny personal responsibility and shift blame to others   Keep others at arm’s length to prevent from being known   Are controlling and need things to go their way   Tend to devalue and/or abandon others when they feel out of control   See people as “good” or “bad” or in other words, tend to idealize some people while demonizing others   Determine a person’s goodness or badness by this individual’s ability to please them   Treat others as objects or tools   Struggle to recognize that other people have their own individual needs and concern