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How To Recognize Covert/Collapsed Personality Disorders

Prof. Sam Vaknin・2 minutes read

Sam Wagner discusses the connection between Occam's Razor and personality disorders, suggesting that all cluster B disorders are a single clinical entity critiquing the DSM for being list-based. He also explores how mental health issues stem from confusion between internal and external objects, emphasizing covert forms of narcissism and other personality disorders.

Insights

  • Personality disorders, particularly cluster B disorders, can be viewed as a single clinical entity with various overlays, transitioning due to stressors and narcissistic mortification.
  • Covert narcissism, a subtype of masochistic narcissism, involves self-delusion and reframing reality to cope with feelings of inadequacy and disillusionment, leading to behaviors like public misery pronouncements and self-aggrandizement through victimhood.

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Recent questions

  • What is the relationship between narcissism and psychosis?

    Narcissism involves perceiving internal objects as external, while psychosis is the opposite.

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Summary

00:00

"Unified Theory of Personality Disorders"

  • Author is Sam Wagner, known for books on personality disorders and psychology
  • Discusses Occam's Razor and simplicity in nature
  • Proposes that all cluster B personality disorders are a single clinical entity
  • Criticizes DSM for being list-based and lacking dynamics
  • Suggests mental health issues stem from confusion between internal and external objects
  • Describes psychosis as internal objects perceived as external, while narcissism is the opposite
  • States that all personality disorders can be seen as a single clinical entity with overlays
  • Explains transitions between different overlays and states due to stressors and narcissistic mortification
  • Emphasizes the covert state of narcissism as an aspiration to be overt and a result of failure
  • Details characteristics of covert narcissists as described by Cooper and Akhtar, including self-doubt and envy

20:23

Dehumanization and entitlement in abusive families

  • Karen Horney, a renowned psychologist from the 40s and 50s, emphasized how children in abusive families are dehumanized and instrumentalized by their parents.
  • In such families, children are valued not for who they are but for fulfilling their parents' unmet dreams and desires, leading to a distorted sense of self and reality.
  • Children raised in this manner lack essential life skills like empathy, compassion, and realistic self-assessment due to being shielded from the challenges of reality.
  • These children often grow up with a sense of entitlement and perfection, akin to a new aristocracy, believing their inherent genius is sufficient without the need for personal growth or education.
  • Narcissism, as described by Horney, is a fragile mental structure that stems from classic abuse or idolization, leading to feelings of inadequacy and impostor syndrome.
  • Milan's distinction between types of narcissists is refuted, with the assertion that all narcissists share deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy and a grandiosity gap between self-image and actual accomplishments.
  • Narcissists, besieged by feelings of inadequacy, react aggressively to perceived slights or criticism, struggling with the disparity between their grandiose self-image and reality.
  • As narcissists age, they often face derision and mockery, with their claims of superiority becoming less plausible over time, leading to a collapse of their narcissistic defenses.
  • The collapse of narcissistic defenses can result in covert narcissism, where the narcissist resorts to self-delusion and reframing reality to soothe the pain of disillusionment.
  • Covert narcissism can manifest in various forms, including delusional narrative, antisocial, paranoid schizoid, paranoid aggressive, and masochistic avoidance solutions, each reflecting different coping mechanisms to maintain a grandiose self-image.

38:28

"Collapsed Narcissists: Self-Sabotage and Rebuilding"

  • Milan identified masochistic narcissists as individuals who sabotage their own success by avoiding objective assessments of their performance, acting carelessly, withdrawing mid-effort, and passively sabotaging their lives and projects.
  • Masochistic narcissists exhibit ostentatious suffering and self-pity, pronouncing public misery and reinforcing their self-esteem against feelings of worthlessness through tribulations and anguish.
  • Covert narcissists, a subtype of masochistic narcissists, are described as saintly, professional victims who use the term "empath" to self-aggrandize, generating their own supply by attaining a high moral ground.
  • The collapsed phase leading to covert narcissism involves a collapse, notification, modification, indifference, and a switch back to overt narcissism, with the covert state's tools becoming inapplicable.
  • Collapse covert narcissists develop indifference, becoming conflict-averse and open to exploitation, engaging in anti-social activities to regain a sense of omnipotence and reconstruct their false self.
  • Histrionic personality disorder in the collapsed state is often seen in women with body image issues, low self-esteem, and a need for male validation, leading to social withdrawal and reclusiveness.
  • Collapse histrionics misread social cues, leading to mockery, abuse, and sexual assault by men, compensating with defiance, grandiosity, and substance abuse to cope with feelings of inferiority and inadequacy.
  • Histrionic personality disorder combines traits of narcissistic and anti-social personality disorders, with histrionics using attention from the opposite sex to regulate their emotions and self-worth, reacting with histrionic rage to rejection.
  • Collapsed histrionics resort to reckless behaviors like compulsive shopping, substance abuse, and verbal abuse to restore their grandiosity and self-esteem, often targeting men perceived as alpha males.
  • Personality disordered women, when rejected by intimate partners, may act out by becoming flirtatious and promiscuous to prove their desirability or by neglecting their appearance and femininity to devalue themselves and their partner's property.

57:19

Misdiagnosed Borderline Individuals: Traits and Behaviors

  • Borderline individuals are often misdiagnosed as narcissists due to shared traits of grandiosity, similar to psychopaths.
  • Covert borderlines exhibit internal locus of control, emotional dysregulation, and defiance against authority.
  • They externalize and internalize aggression, lack suicidal ideation, and engage in addictive behaviors.
  • Covert borderlines display dissociative self-states, selective attention, and confabulation.
  • In interpersonal relationships, they have shallow connections, intense need for love, and lack of empathy.
  • Covert borderlines engage in intermittent reinforcement, generate trauma bonding, and mask contempt with pseudo-humility.
  • They exhibit sadistic behavior, goal-oriented triangulation, and have a love of language and articulate expression.
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