Understanding Narcissism Traits and Behaviors

Estimated read time 4 min read

Narcissism Traits and Behaviors

Narcissism is a personality trait that’s hard to deal with if you know someone who has it. It’s all about feeling an inflated sense of self-importance and a huge need for admiration and acknowledgment all the time.

Plus, narcissistic people usually lack empathy for anyone around them, making things even harder to handle.

If you think you might be in a relationship with a narcissist, or even just know one, it’s a good idea to understand more about their traits and behaviors to know what to do and what important decisions to make.

Read on to find out more.

Key Narcissistic Traits

The thing to remember about narcissism is that it’s not the same for everyone who has it, and it’s actually on a spectrum, where at one end, people are just quite confident and self-focused, but at the other, they’re extremely self-absorbed.

However, most people with narcissistic personalities will have at least some, if not all, of these key traits:

Grandiosity

One of the biggest issues with a narcissistic personality is grandiosity, which means they’ll have an exaggerated sense of self-importance and they’ll feel highly superior to everyone else. They might think they deserve special treatment and can become angry or even violent when they don’t get it.

Lack of Empathy

If someone finds it hard to connect with others and understand their emotions, they’ll lack empathy. This can be a problem for lots of reasons, but it can be especially problematic if you’re going through a divorce and have children to parent together.

In that case, you’ll need to know how to survive co parenting with a narcissist to help you come up with a good plan.

Attention-Seeking

Narcissists need attention and admiration from everyone, even complete strangers, and it’s what they thrive on. This can lead to dangerous behavior in an effort to be seen and praised, so it’s well worth looking out for.

Envy and Jealousy

Although narcissists will seem hugely confident on the outside, they can actually be very jealous and envious of other people’s success. After all, they need to be the center of attention, so if anyone else gets that attention, they won’t like it at all.

Narcissism In Relationships

From everything above, it should be clear to see how difficult it can be to be in a relationship with a narcissist, whether personal or professional.

You might feel frustrated because the narcissist is so self-centered and never does anything to show they care about you, for example, or you might feel completely neglected.

Perhaps you can’t work well together at work because the narcissist never listens to anyone else’s opinions. In any case, being with and around a narcissist is something to avoid if at all possible.

How To Deal With Narcissistic Behavior

Although narcissism is a personality trait which means it might be impossible to change, there are some things you can do that will help you if you need to deal with narcissistic behavior if you can see it in yourself.

The first thing to do is to acknowledge the problem and then speak to a therapist about it. They might be able to help you understand more about why you feel the way you do, and even if you’ll always be that way, you might be able to tone it down so your relationships become better.

Remember, if you see the signs of narcissism in someone else, only they can choose to change, and it can often be best to walk away until they do.

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