COVID-19: Will We Become Psychotic Narcissists? (37 Int. Conf. Psychiatry & Psychosomatic Medicine)
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the psychological impact of the pandemic, focusing on habituation and habit forming. He suggests that the disruption of familiar environments leads to dissociation, freezing, and attempts to form new familiarity. Vaknin argues that this disruption can lead to a drop in self-efficacy, increase in dissociation, and ultimately a disjointedness and discontinuity in existence, akin to psychotic disorders. He also explores the link between habits and identity, and the potential for the pandemic to lead to a pandemic of psychotic disorders with narcissistic features.
Test Yourself: Mortification, Hoovering, and Attraction Scales
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses two tools he has developed based on his database of people diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder. The first tool, the Heartbreak and Recovery Scale, helps gauge mortification and predicts how long it will take a narcissist to recover from a traumatic breakup or infidelity. The second tool, the S1-S2 score, measures promiscuity and self-efficacy, and helps identify traits that make a potential partner irresistible to a narcissist. These tools are not peer-reviewed or vetted but are based on Vaknin’s extensive research and analysis of his database.
Covert Borderline, Classic Borderline – Psychopaths?
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the proposed new mental health diagnosis of covert borderline, which is more typical of men. He compares and contrasts the covert borderline with the classic or dysregulated borderline. Both types have mood lability and emotional dysregulation, but the classic borderline dissociates from emotions, while the covert borderline rationalizes emotions and becomes a primary psychopath. Many anti-racism activists are covert narcissists and covert borderlines who obtain indirect attention and self-gratification through their activism.
Simple Trick: Tell Apart Narcissist, Psychopath, Borderline
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the concept of stability and instability in narcissistic personalities. He distinguishes between two types of narcissists: compensatory stability and enhancing instability. He also explores the role of appearance and substance in the narcissistic pathology, and the differences between celebrity narcissists and career narcissists. Vaknin emphasizes the complexity of human behavior and warns against oversimplifying generalizations about narcissists.
How Narcissist/Psychopath Sees YOU, his Victim, and Why Borderlines Adore Them
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the inner experiences of narcissists, psychopaths, and borderlines. He explains how narcissists idealize their partners to reinforce their own grandiosity, while psychopaths manipulate and discard their partners for entertainment or personal gain. Borderlines exhibit a complex mix of traits from other personality disorders and may transition between narcissistic and psychopathic behaviors in response to frustration. Vaknin also clarifies that cheating is just one example of a behavior that can mortify a narcissist.
Boomers Pandemic, Millennials Cost, Bubble World – Part 1 of 2
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to retreat into bubbles, exposing the fault lines and fractures in society. The pandemic has created an intergenerational conflict between the old and the young, with the younger generations paying the price for the failures of the older generations. The pandemic has led to the normalization of mental health pathologies and the loss of value of common goods that rely on cooperation and social conventions. Millennials and zoomers have experienced slower economic growth, lower earnings, and delayed home ownership, leading to economic scarring that will last a lifetime.
lovebombinggroomingLove Bombing and Grooming: In Crosshairs of Narcissists, Sadists, Psychopaths
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the concept of demon possession and its relation to narcissism. He explores the historical and linguistic context of demon possession, comparing it to the vocabulary used in psychiatry. He delves into the psychological traits and behaviors associated with demon possession, drawing parallels to narcissism, psychopathy, and borderline personality disorder. Additionally, he examines the impact of brain injuries on personality disorders and the role of the false self in the narcissist’s psyche.
Narcissism, Demonic Possession as Morality Plays
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses demon possession and its similarities to narcissism, as well as the concept of possession in different religions and cultures. He argues that pathological narcissism is the source of all personality disorders and that narcissists and psychopaths lack empathy and emotions, making them not human in any sense of the word. Vaknin also discusses the false self in narcissists and how it becomes dominant, leading to a loss of identity. He also talks about the structural abnormalities in the brains of individuals with narcissistic personality disorder and the therapist’s role in reconstructing a functional self.
From Borderline to Psychopath to Narcissist: Abuse of Language and Self States
Sam Vaknin discusses the concept of personality disorders, particularly cluster B disorders, as facets of an underlying dissociative process. He suggests that these disorders may be self-states or alters of each other, all stemming from a common dissociation. Vaknin also explores the role of language and speech in these disorders, as well as the development of false selves and the transition between different personality disorders. He proposes that all known personality disorders, especially cluster B disorders, are forms of malignant self-love, and that ultimately there is only one cluster B personality disorder.
Pandemic Taught Us Humility – Can Give Us Purpose: Back to Village, Communal Therapy
Professor Sam Vaknin argues that psychotherapy has failed as a discipline, as mental health disorders have grown exponentially in recent decades. He suggests that psychology needs to shift from individual therapy to a more communal form of therapeutic intervention, focusing on creating a sense of belonging, community, and meaning in people’s lives. Vaknin believes that leveraging social media for mass therapy and focusing on teaching and education could help address the mental health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.