The case-study method of psychological research was applied to the brief psychodynamic therapy of a narcissistically disordered female patient. The aim of this research was to explore, clarify and explain certain diagnostic and psychodynamic anomalies to emerge in the course of treatment, using a conceptual framework derived from select psychoanalytic object relations theorists in the area of narcissistic pathology. The author, discovering that there was no diagnostic or explanatory object relations model adequate to the therapeutic data, formulated his own diagnostic category narcissistic neurosis and an eclectic object relations model in order to explain the anomolous research findings. Narcissistic neurosis was defined as a form of psychopathology in which a primarily neurotic character structure presents with a distinctly narcissistic profile. The narcissistic false self-structure serves the functional purpose of protecting the psyche from a repressed negative self-representation derived from a destructive bipolar self-object introject. The primary etiological factor to emerge was that of a narcissistic mother conditional affection and self-object target child necessitated adaptive whose insensitivity, relationship with the premature self-sufficiency and the defensive emergence of a narcissistic surface self-representation. It was proposed that narcissistic neurosis and narcissistic personality disorder are two discrete forms of pathology differing in terms of severity, psychodynamics, defensive structure, mode of object relating, therapeutic accessibility and prognosis. Assessment criteria were proposed in order to differentiate the two areas of narcissistic pathology and assess suitability for psychotherapeutic treatment. Positive treatment results in this case-study suggest that narcissistic neuroses may receive long-term benefit from short-term psychodynamic therapy.

Research has linked narcissism to a tendency for becoming aggressive based on the perspective that narcissistic people are more prone to ego-threats and more prone to responding defensively to those ego-threats. Also, recent research has been examining the propensity for aggression to escalate as a means to justify prior aggression. This study examined the relationship between narcissism and escalation in aggression and possible mediators of increased aggression. If highly narcissistic individuals are more vulnerable to ego-threats and in turn justify their actions more, then their aggression might escalate more. To examine this, sixty-seven subjects who completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory prior to the laboratory session were assigned to two groups using a bug-extermination method (though no bugs were actually killed) developed by Martens and his colleagues (in press). They either killed one or five bugs initially and then conducted a subsequent bug-killing task in which they controlled the number of bugs they killed. As predicted, participants who killed five bugs initially killed more bugs during the subsequent bug-extermination task than those who killed only one bug initially. Contrary to predictions, no effects of or interactions of narcissism with the initial bug-killing manipulation emerged. We did find, however, that a subtype of narcissism, that is superiority, affected the self-paced 20 seconds bug-killing behaviour. The limitations, further directions, and implications of this study are discussed.

No description available.

Research has linked narcissism to a tendency for becoming aggressive based on the perspective that narcissistic people are more prone to ego-threats and more prone to responding defensively to those ego-threats. Also, recent research has been examining the propensity for aggression to escalate as a means to justify prior aggression. This study examined the relationship between narcissism and escalation in aggression and possible mediators of increased aggression. If highly narcissistic individuals are more vulnerable to ego-threats and in turn justify their actions more, then their aggression might escalate more. To examine this, sixty-seven subjects who completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory prior to the laboratory session were assigned to two groups using a bug-extermination method (though no bugs were actually killed) developed by Martens and his colleagues (in press). They either killed one or five bugs initially and then conducted a subsequent bug-killing task in which they controlled the number of bugs they killed. As predicted, participants who killed five bugs initially killed more bugs during the subsequent bug-extermination task than those who killed only one bug initially. Contrary to predictions, no effects of or interactions of narcissism with the initial bug-killing manipulation emerged. We did find, however, that a subtype of narcissism, that is superiority, affected the self-paced 20 seconds bug-killing behaviour. The limitations, further directions, and implications of this study are discussed.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-59). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The achievement (as indexed by standardized test scores) of 56 (54 females and 2 males) private school children was studied in relation to demographic (social status and gender), behavioral (three indicators of persistence), dispositional (clinical and psychometric measures of narcissism), and ability (Otis-Lennon) factors. A clinical procedure and device were developed to augment the information yielded by those procedures whose purpose was primarily the generation of quantitative data. The qualitative and quantitative material was studied together to explore Freud's distinction between libidinal types, which might be implicated in differences in cultural (e.g., school) achievement. Results are discussed in relation to research, assessment, and educational issues. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

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"Narcissist" is a term that may be used lightly to describe or label someone that is self-centered. However, research that suggests a possible increase in narcissistic personality tendencies among college-aged American students has a very real and serious impact on society. The goal of this paper is to examine the evolution of the concept of narcissism and its detrimental effects on society. This will then be applied to the impact that narcissism has on college students and campus environments. It is important to note that individuals high in narcissistic traits encounter many problems including difficulties with interpersonal and professional relationships, and poor insight and self-awareness. Moreover, students high in narcissism are in danger of academic failure, especially in certain prestigious collegiate environments that are more likely to foster narcissistic tendencies.

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2008. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-57).

Both clinical theory (Kernberg, 1974a) and diagnostic nomenclature (DSM-IV-TR; APA, 2000) describe narcissists as envious, although what little evidence exists suggests this relationship may be weak or nonexistent (Gold, 1996). To examine this discrepancy, 204 young adult students completed dispositional measures of narcissism (grandiose [adaptive, pathological] and vulnerable), entitlement, and envy. Later, students competed against ostensibly advantaged opponents in a betting simulation, completed self-report measures of relative deprivation and envy, and could spend some of their earnings to burn their opponents' earnings (assessing possible behavioural effects of envy). Structural equation models were evaluated for each episodic envy variant (self-reported, behavioral, indirect). Only the self-reported envy model demonstrated adequate fit and variance explained. Vulnerable narcissism strongly predicted envy via a "trait" route entailing susceptibility to chronic envy and a "triggered" route implicating frustrated entitlements, whereas adaptive narcissism predicted envy via the "triggered" route only. Possible theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.