In the modern world, threats are on the rise. One consequence is a rise in narcissism, often misconstrued as strength and confidence. It actually has more to do with weakness.
It's important to improve your ability to distinguish between the two. Confidence presents with self-awareness, empathy, kindness, sociality, and security in one’s abilities, which arises through the physiology of experiencing a safe environment.
Conversely, narcissism presents with a lack of self-awareness, empathy, kindness, and sociality, and with profound insecurities and an inflated sense of self that arises through the physiology of experiencing an unsafe environment. Confident people uplift others to feel their own emotional warmth and joy, while narcissists diminish others to enhance their own sense of dominance and pleasure. From an evolutionary perspective, perceived threat demands that at times we have a strong self-focus as a mechanism for survival.
An environment of safety allows for the dissipation of self-focus and amplification of other-focus; it is a necessity for the thriving of the tribe and the species. , as it serves us and our tribe well when we are under attack. But when the threat load is high and has been chronic over a lifetime, one can get stuck in the phenotype, a maladaptation characterized as aThreat feels bad. Chronic threat feels worse, and it isolating and depleting.
To feel better in a chronic threat state, the creation of a profoundly defended false self of considerable charm and grandeur can help—until it doesn’t. TheGiven the defensive and cognitive features of the narcissistic phenotype, to then ask a narcissistic person to be different and actually change can increase their threat load and make them worse. When the threat phenotype becomes ingrained over time, changing the phenotype can be like asking a blind man to see.
It is not likely to happen.and reinforcement of behaviors, and the suppression of pain and the experience of pleasure. Profit, prestige, power, validation, superiority, dominance, and “winning” all provide a hit of dopamine, and the pleasure it provides reinforces the behavior, so that it is enacted over and over again. —a compulsive, maladaptive craving that is out of control and unstoppable.
And as with addiction, when the monoamine neurotransmitter stores, especially of dopamine, become depleted within chronic threat physiology, the hits needed to express enough dopamine to experience pleasure must get bigger. With the narcissistic phenotype, this can be seen in needing greater profit, prestige, and power. The phenotype will work diligently to create more validation, superiority, dominance, and more winning, even if it is artificial and staged. Such people will also continually create bigger emotional firestorms.
Should all the maladaptation blow up on the narcissistic phenotype—when the wins disappear, when the sycophants flee, when no one is left to be bullied, when the dopamine stores are dry—then narcissistic collapse follows. There may be a phenotypic shift from raging and attacking to, blaming, reframing, victimhood, retribution, and even helplessness, until the narcissist recovers enough energy to try and shift back to rebuild and defend the false self again. The collapse state can be dangerous, too.
The behavior of the narcissist is less predictable and more chaotic compared to their previous phenotype of unpleasant behavior that was highly repetitive . Within narcissistic collapse, reasoning and judgment deteriorate. Anything is possible within the final throws of defending the false self. Beware, be wary.
The noxiousness of the narcissistic phenotype to the surrounding world is high. Less obvious is the toxicity of the narcissistic phenotype to themself.and threat, and certainly not power. When they get power, then we all need help and safety. Early recognition of the difference between confidence and narcissism and then getting the threatened narcissistic phenotype the help and support they need is essential to the individual, society, and the species for thriving.
There is no other phenotype that has as much potential to destroy relationships, disrupt society, create world chaos, and ultimately extinguish our species. , and destruction. More important, be aware, be awake, to very early on seeing the difference between narcissism and confidence, before the narcissistic defenses, patterns, and roots take hold.is a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician with an interest in natural prevention and healing strategies for health and wellness.
Foundational to this practice is the understanding of threat and defensive physiology versus safety and restorative physiology. The Friend Effect: 23 Surprising Ways Other People Shape YouSelf Tests are all about you. Are you outgoing or introverted? Are you a narcissist?
Does perfectionism hold you back? Find out the answers to these questions and more with Psychology Today.
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