Vaknin Talks

Full transcripts of Sam Vaknin's videos

Abolish Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) in DSM V?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is criticized for its inadequate classificatory model and diagnostic criteria, which are vague and equivocal. The DSM-5 committee proposes to abolish some personality disorders and merge them into a single diagnostic category, using a

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Eating Disorders and Personality Disorders

Eating disorders are impulsive behaviors that can exist with cluster B personality disorders, particularly with borderline personality disorders. The key to improving the mental state of patients who have been diagnosed with both a personality disorder and an eating disorder

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Mourning the Narcissist

Victims of narcissistic abuse often struggle to let go of the idealized figure they fell in love with at the beginning of the relationship. When the relationship ends, they experience a cycle of bereavement and grief, including denial, rage, sadness,

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Narcissist: Masochism, Self-destruction, Self-defeat

Narcissists exhibit self-defeating and self-destructive behaviors that are pernicious and subtle. These behaviors include self-punishing, guilt-purging behaviors, extracting behaviors, default behaviors, and frustrating, negativistic, and passive-aggressive behaviors. Narcissists are terrorized by intimacy and interpret it as co-dependence, emotional strangulation, and

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Narcissist: Socially-anxious, Schizoid

Schizoid personality disorder is characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships and interactions, limited emotional expression, and a preference for solitary activities. Schizoids are often described as robotic and uninterested in social bonding. While there are similarities between

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Children Psychopaths? Conduct Disorder

Children and adolescents with conduct disorder are budding psychopaths who repeatedly and deliberately violate the rights of others and breach age-appropriate social norms and rules. They are socially, occupationally, and academically dysfunctional, and their diagnosis changes to antisocial personality disorder

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Narcissists: Difficult and Hateful Patients

Patients with personality disorders often evoke dislike or hatred in their physicians, with the narcissistic patient being the worst. They insist they are equal to the psychotherapist in knowledge, experience, or social status, and resist psychotherapy. Management of personality disorders

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Narcissist Mother’s Pet: Her Child

The study of narcissism is still unresolved, with two central debates remaining undecided. The first is whether there is such a thing as healthy narcissism or if all manifestations of narcissism in adulthood are pathological. The second debate is whether

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Narcissist’s Pathological Grandiosity

Daydreaming and fantasizing are healthy activities that prepare individuals for eventualities and planning. However, pathological grandiosity is different and has four components: omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and perfectionism and completeness. The narcissist believes in his own omnipotence and is convinced that

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