PersonalityDisorders

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Narcissistic Personality Symptoms

grandiosity / exaggeration
fantastic thinking / romantic
believes special / unique
requires admiration
entitled / demanding
exploitive / manipulative
lacks empathy
envious / jealous
arrogant / haughty

Quick links:

Narcissism is not the only disorder out there!

N.B. The diagnosis and treatment of behavioral disorders should not be attempted without the personal involvement of a licensed health care professional.

Psychology Today web site's Personality tests

See abbreviated characteristics of NPD

Go on to Christopher Lasch

14.8 per cent of Americans have personality disorders.

I found this memory aid for doctors on the internet:

Personality disorders, by definition, are disorders of personality. Consequently, they are typified by early onset and pervasive effects. Nevertheless, there are treatments that can help those with personality disorders learn to cope with their distinctive problems in living.

The following acronyms for the personality disorders (Pinkofsky, 1997) should make them understandable and memorable. The group headings are based respectively on the DSM-IV, the structural analysis of social behavior (SASB; Benjamin, 1996), and the psychoticism - extraversion - neuroticism (PEN) model (Eysenck, 1987). It is because of their relation to theories that have inspired scientific research that personality disorders are included herein.

Cluster A
Odd, Eccentric Group Psychotics

 Paranoid personality disorder: SUSPECT (4 criteria).

S: Spouse fidelity suspected
U: Unforgiving (bears grudges)
S: Suspicious of others
P: Perceives attacks (and reacts quickly)
E: "Enemy or friend" (suspects associates, friends)
C: Confiding in others feared
T: Threats perceived in benign events

Schizoid personality disorder: DISTANT (4 criteria).

D: Detached (or flattened) affect
I: Indifferent to criticism and praise
S: Sexual experiences of little interest
T: Tasks (activities) done solitarily
A: Absence of close friends
N: Neither desires nor enjoys close relations
T: Takes pleasure in few activities

 Schizotypal personality disorder: ME PECULIAR (5 criteria).

M: Magical thinking or odd beliefs
E: Experiences unusual perceptions

P: Paranoid ideation
E: Eccentric behavior or appearance
C: Constricted (or inappropriate) affect
U: Unusual (odd) thinking and speech
L: Lacks close friends
I: Ideas of reference
A: Anxiety in social situations
R: Rule out psychotic disorders and pervasive developmental disorder

Cluster B
Dramatic, Erratic Group Extraverts

 Antisocial personality disorder: CORRUPT (3 criteria).

C: Conformity to law lacking
O: Obligations ignored
R: Reckless disregard for safety of self or others
R: Remorse lacking
U: Underhanded (deceitful, lies, cons others)
P: Planning insufficient (impulsive)
T: Temper (irritable and aggressive)

 Borderline personality disorder: AM SUICIDE (5 criteria).

A: Abandonment
M: Mood instability (marked reactivity of mood)

S: Suicidal (or self-mutilating) behavior
U: Unstable and intense relationships
I: Impulsivity (in two potentially self-damaging areas)
C: Control of anger
I: Identity disturbance
D: Dissociative (or paranoid) symptoms that are transient and stress-related
E: Emptiness (chronic feelings of)

 Histrionic personality disorder: PRAISE ME (5 criteria).

P: Provocative (or sexually seductive) behavior
R: Relationships (considered more intimate than they are)
A: Attention (uncomfortable when not the center of attention)
I: Influenced easily
S: Style of speech (impressionistic, lacks detail)
E: Emotions (rapidly shifting and shallow)
M: Made up (physical appearance used to draw attention to self)
E: Emotions exaggerated (theatrical)

 Narcissistic personality disorder: SPECIAL (5 criteria).

S: Special (believes he or she is special and unique)
P: Preoccupied with fantasies (of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love)
E: Entitlement C: Conceited (grandiose sense of self-importance)
I: Interpersonal exploitation
A: Arrogant (haughty)
L: Lacks empathy

Go on to Christopher Lasch