Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the regulatory cycle of the borderline personality disorder. The borderline seeks an intimate partner to provide her with a sense of inner peace, stability, and safety. The intimate partner becomes an extension of the borderline’s inner
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the concept of nature and how humans relate to it. He argues that the traditional ways of relating to nature, such as religious domination, romanticism, and decoupling, are all dysfunctional and fail to recognize that humans
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the impact of narcissistic abuse and the importance of individuation and boundaries. He emphasizes the dangers of empathizing with narcissists and the prevalence of misinformation in the field of narcissism. Vaknin also delves into the broader
Sam Vaknin discusses pathological narcissism and how it is caused by a fixation that occurs when one does not progress beyond a certain emotional age due to getting the wrong signals and input from their maternal figure. Narcissistic abuse is
Narcissism and borderline personality disorder are a perfect match, despite the fact that the narcissist tends to devalue and discard their partner while the borderline has abandonment anxiety. The borderline needs a partner who will idealize them and reduce their
The Oedipal and Electra complexes are not about sexual attraction to parents, but rather about the child’s need to merge and fuse with the parent of the opposite sex. Until age three or four, children are pansexual and have no
Sexual identity is different from sexual orientation. Sexual identity is how one perceives oneself sexually, while sexual orientation is about others and involves object relations. Sexual identity is formed in five stages: introjection, emulation, empathy, exploration, and sublimation. A disruption
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses two new factors that influence who we become: chance or randomness and generational trauma. Recent research suggests that random molecular fluctuations in developing brain cells, especially in the womb, can influence the brain’s wiring and have
A recent study by researchers at the University of Liverpool has found that all cats have some level of psychopathy, with the reason being that in an ancestral environment that demanded self-sufficiency, wild cats that had higher levels of psychopathic
Acting out is a way for individuals to discharge conflicted mental content through action, often as a result of being unable to verbalize or communicate their internal struggles. It is commonly associated with personality disorders and can lead to self-destructive