Narcissism: The New Normal? (Mental Health Speak Show)
Sam Vaknin, a professor of psychology and author of Malignant Self-Love: Narcissism Revisited, discusses the distinction between pathological narcissism and narcissism as a societal, cultural, and historical organizing principle. He believes that narcissism is an all-pervasive phenomenon today and is the organizing principle of our society, civilization, and culture. Vaknin also discusses his own experience with narcissistic personality disorder and how he has developed a treatment modality called Cold Therapy, which has had an impact on him and has been successful in treating others.
NEW VIDEO Narcissism, the New Faith – Part 2: Missionary Cult and the End of Society
Narcissism is a new, technologically driven, networked religion, and God in the new faith of narcissism is distributed. Each and every one of the nodes in the network is a God. Narcissism is a concept of God, which renders the narcissist equal to God, identical to God. Narcissism is the first network distributed religion, the first network distributed faith. In 50 to 100 years, the number one religion would be narcissism.
Narcissism, the New Faith – Part 1: Distributed God and Human Sacrifice
Narcissism can be described as a form of private religion, where the false self is the divinity and the child who has developed the false self becomes the worshipper. When narcissism becomes a societal phenomenon, it remains the same, but it becomes the first distributed religion in human history. Narcissism is a faith of entitlement, where the narcissist subsumes everything and becomes one with everything because the narcissist is everything and everything is the narcissist. The current new religion that is emerging, the religion of narcissism, is similarly embedded in the computer metaphor or more precisely in the network metaphor.
Reimagining Narcissism in a Psychopathic World (Dunc Tank)
Sam Vaknin explains that narcissism is a clinical entity and an organizing principle that can elucidate many processes. Narcissists seek external validation, known as narcissistic supply, to regulate their sense of self-worth. Narcissism and psychopathy are becoming a lifestyle, and as long as they were a pathology, they could have been contained, but the minute they become a fad or a fashion, we are doomed. Vaknin believes that there is no effective therapy for narcissism, and the only advice he has for prospective parents diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder is to not have children.
Lidija and Sam: The Tide of Narcissism (1st in Series “Fly on the Wall”)
Social media blurs the line between virtual and real reality, leading to addiction and confusion. The positive reward system of likes and shares encourages extreme behavior and radicalization. Social media creates a clash between reality and virtual or augmented reality, and the false self is unique on social media, not the real self. Narcissists use social media as an addiction to maintain their grandiosity and avoid disintegration.
Consumption as a Narcissistic Religion
Professor Sam Vaknin argues that narcissism is a reaction to an abusive or traumatizing environment, and that consumerism is a form of secular religion that has replaced classic, God-centered religion. He believes that consumerism is addictive and leads to a rat race that is nightmarish and unrealistic, ultimately leading to an overdose. The pursuit of money as the foundation of happiness in consumerism leads to a morally neutral world that prioritizes selfishness and egotism over empathy and altruism.
Attention Whores, Impulse Control, and Munchausen by Narcissist
Attention-bores, mostly women with histrionic and borderline personality disorders, use male attention to regulate their sense of self-worth. They become flirtatious, seductive, and trade sex for even the most inconsequential signs of attention from a man. Male attention serves a few important psychodynamic functions with these women, including reassuring them of their irresistibility and attractiveness, reasserting control and power of a man via her sex, and adrenaline junkies. Impulsive behaviors are addictive, and recurrences and recidivism are very common. As these women grow older, most of the signs and symptoms of borderline and histrionic personality disorder recede, unfortunately only to be replaced with dysthymia, background depression.
Narcissist: Bumbling Fool, Incapable of Learning?
Narcissists can appear to be stupid for several reasons. They have no impulse control, act out, and engage in self-defeating actions. They also use pseudo-stupidity to avoid the consequences of their misdeeds. Narcissists are gullible, have an impaired reality test, and cannot read social cues or the intentions of others. They also use false modesty to fish for compliments, but their attempts are so transparent that people react with repulsion. Finally, the narcissist regards learning something new or getting advice as narcissistic injuries, which renders them appear profoundly stupid.
Incest: Narcissism or Society? (International Conference Adolescent Medicine & Child Psychology)
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the taboo of incest and its historical and cultural context. He argues that incest is not a clear-cut matter and that many types of relationships defined as incestuous are between genetically unrelated parties. Vaknin suggests that the incest taboo was and is aimed at preserving the family unit and its proper functioning, regulating the intergenerational distribution and handling of accumulated family wealth, and preventing the degeneration of the genetic stock of the clan or tribe through intra-family breeding. He concludes that incest is a culture-bound restriction, prohibition, and taboo, and that a world without incest is considerable, and a world with incest is considerable.
Borderline Codependent: Clinging Child, Punitive Parent
Codependency in parents can lead to children who only receive conditional love based on their performance. This can result in a child who is objectified and treated as an extension of the parent. The child learns that to obtain affection, they must perform, leading to a lack of self-love. This can result in a psychopath, passive-aggressive personality disorder, masochistic adult, or an adult with depressive disorders. Codependents often experience extreme abandonment anxiety and swing between self-effacing and explosive behaviors due to divided loyalties between their partner and internalized parent.