Teenage Brain and NPD

As mentioned earlier, the still-in-process teenage brain is rather narcissistic in its approach to life and living. The process of maturing the teenage brain is designed to move it away from narcissistic behavior to more balanced behaviors. This involves a learning process and the teenage brain either learns it or not. If the teenagers fail to mature and move to more balanced behaviors, they tend to become narcissistic adults. While narcissists are able to feel most emotions as strongly as do others, they seem to lack the essential ability to perceive or understand the feelings of others. As Martha Stout PhD has put it, narcissism is a failure not of conscience but of empathy. Emotionally speaking, narcissists don’t seem to see past their own nose, sometimes flying into narcissistic rages and then lacking the skills to get back on the good side of people they love. That’s exactly what had happened in the interactions between parents and their ‘adult’ son. He had flown into a narcissistic rage when things has not turned out exactly as he expected or wanted on his visit, which had fractured their relationship, yet again. More tomorrow.

Aphorisms, 11

• If it ain't broke, leave it alone and stop trying to fix it
• If you do what you've always done you'll get what you've always got
• If you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas
• If you snooze while you’re awake, you lose
• Ignorance is bliss—until someone smarter comes along
• Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery unless you are imitating stupidity
• Keep your head above water unless you really know how to swim
• Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it
• Keep your nose to the grindstone—if you want to ruin your nose
• Keep your powder dry and your arrow sharp—which takes brains

Age-Related NPD

The brain matures more slowly than the body that houses it. Consequently, immature brains are definitely not ‘done’ yet and are innately rather narcissistic, “It’s all about me.” The process of maturing is designed to move these brain to more balanced behaviors. It is believed less of a genetic process and more of a learning process that is either learned or not. If the brain does not learn and mature and move to more balanced behaviors, the brain may become narcissistic. The bad news in terms of relationships is that an antisocial narcissistic adult (whose brain did not learn and move toward more balanced behaviors) may eventually exhibit sociopathic behaviors. What else might you observe? These individuals may have serial sexual affairs saying, “If you’d paid me more attention I wouldn’t have had to go looking for it.” (Blaming) They want to avoid accountability saying, “I’ve made mistakes but I don’t want to talk about any of them, I just want to start from here.” A big question is whether narcissism is treatable. I have heard psychiatrist say, “Yes, some narcissism is treatable,” especially if the individual recognizes their behaviors and wants to become more balanced. If they are in the habit of exhibiting angry narcissistic rages, however, and are unwilling to seek help to view themselves and their behaviors more objectively and course correct, there may be no recovery. More next week.

NPD Prevalence

Prevalence is the estimated population of people who are managing Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) at any given time in a given general population group. Jean M. Twenge PhD and W. Keith Campbell PhD, authors of the 2009 book The Narcissism Epidemic, estimated the prevalence of NPD in the United States at 6.2% in the general population: 7.7% for males and 4.8% for females. Reportedly, NPD is more prevalent among separated, divorced, widowed, and never married adults. Hispanic females and African Americans may be at higher risk. It comes as no surprise NPD can cause problems in many areas of life including home, school, work, and in all types of relationships and collaborative efforts. This personality disorder is also characterized by a belief that they deserve admiration and special favors in all environments. When they do not receive this at the level expected, they can become disappointed and unhappy. Naturally, they tend to find relationships rather unfulfilling and cannot seem to understand why others to not seek them out and want to be around them. More tomorrow.

Brain & NPD, 2

Based on, I’m guessing, some of the ‘news items’ lately, I’ve been asked more questions about narcissism recently, including any role parenting might play in its development. A Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is one of several types of personality disorders, which are mental conditions characterized by traits that cause them to feel and behave in socially distressing ways (a Mayo Clinic puts it). No surprise, this limits their ability to function effectively and successfully in relationships both personally and professionally. These individuals tend to have an inflated sense of their own importance, which includes a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. Their exhibited persona is that of ultra-confident behavior, but at its core it contains an extremely fragile sense of self-worth or self-esteem, which makes them vulnerable to the slightest perceived criticism—real or imagined—no matter how mild or deserving. More tomorrow.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/basics/symptoms/CON-20025568

Brain & Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)

Narcissism and the Brain

Several times I’ve been asked to speak on the topic of “Difficult Brains—Toxic Behaviors.” The goal, of course, is to help people recognize undesirable behaviors quickly. If it involves their own behaviors, they can choose to course correct. If it involve the behaviors of others, they can self-select strategies to protect themselves from at least some of the negative consequences. A parent contacted me and described his emotional pain related to a visit from his adult son. On the surface at least, what the father described fell into the category of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and the reported behaviors were pretty ugly. The son stated, among other things, "I do not have a happy life and it is all your fault. After all, you had me and I did not ask to be born, period. Certainly I did not ask to be born into this family!" It can be tough when the narcissist you know is a member of your own family or, for that matter, yourself. In the latter case, you do have the choice to course correct. More tomorrow.

Dementia and Music

As with AIDS when it was discovered that dementia appeared to result when the HIV attacked glial cells in the brain (which then failed to care for the neurons that died from neglect), Alzheimer’s may be the outcome of an attack on the mitochondria. It is going to be interesting following this line of research. Recently, a friend of mine shared a youtube item about a 95 year old man who had developed dementia and had to be placed in a facility for individuals whose brains were damaged at that level. Although Alzheimer and other forms of dementia are believed to be a type of neurological brain disease, apparently they doesn’t necessarily wipe out all skills and abilities. This man was still able to play jazz! You may want to take a couple minutes and watch this. It brought tears to my heart . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp6c_oG1SBk&sns=em