Self-states, Unmet Needs in Narcissists, Borderlines
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the concept of the self, internal objects, and self-states. He explains how the self is a privileged internal object that communicates with all other internal objects, introducing order and structure. He delves into the formation and function of self-states, emphasizing their responsiveness to unmet needs and their permeability. Additionally, he touches on coping strategies in individuals with personality disorders, such as narcissistic and schizoid solutions, and the dialogues between internal objects and self-states.
Anxious People – Narcissists? (2nd Webinar on Stress and Depression Management)
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses anxiety from various angles, including the philosophical angle. He explains that anxiety disorders are often misdiagnosed as narcissistic personality disorder because both types of patients are worried about social approval and seek feedback, admiration, and applause. However, the narcissist is egosyntonic, while the anxious patient is egodystonic. Anxiety is an essential component of existence, bad faith existence, inauthentic existence, and authentic existence. Anxiety is intimately connected to the schizoid core of personality disorder, to the need to maintain an authentic existence, and it’s intimately connected to narcissistic spectacle, to displays of grandiosity, to attempts to solicit narcissistic supply.
Narcissist’s Femme Fatale – or Mother?
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the confusion of states of mind in narcissism, particularly possessiveness, romantic jealousy, and mortification. He explains the triggers and reactions of possessiveness and romantic jealousy, and the introspective nature of mortification. He also delves into the different types of intimate partners that provoke these reactions in narcissists. Ultimately, he emphasizes the potential for mortification to lead to self-analysis and transformation in narcissists.
Being is Slavery, Nothingness is Freedom (Sartre’s “Being and Nothingness”, FIRST LECTURE)
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the concept of nothingness and its relationship with consciousness, self, and freedom. He explores Jean-Paul Sartre’s ideas on nothingness and how it is a capacity of our consciousness that has evolutionary advantages. Vaknin also delves into the concept of bad faith and self-deception, which is the easy way out of dealing with conflicts and dissonances. He argues that bad faith is a choice and a decision made out of freedom and nothingness. Finally, he discusses Sartre’s rejection of Freud’s theory of self-deceit and repression and how individuals are 100% responsible for their actions.
Ego is Opposite of Narcissism: Ego Functions
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the concept of ego functions and their role in personality and mental health. Ego functions include reality testing, impulse control, regulation of emotions, judgment, object relations, thinking, defenses, and synthesis. A healthy ego is essential for proper functioning and maintaining a coherent identity. However, there are inherent problems and contradictions within the concept of the ego, such as the conflict between reality testing and defense mechanisms. Ego is often misunderstood and misused in popular culture, with many mistakenly associating it with narcissism. In reality, a healthy ego is the opposite of narcissism, as it is grounded in reality and not grandiosity.
We Have No Idea What Is Narcissism
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the historical evolution of the concept of narcissism, including the views of Freud, Jung, Kohut, Heinz Franz Cote, and Karen Horney. Narcissism is constructed around a schizoid core, which pushes the narcissist to introvert. Traumas in early childhood can have long-term effects, and the child’s perception of the trauma is different from that of adults. Narcissism can develop as a coping strategy for children who have experienced trauma, and the development of self-esteem is derived from early daily experience with attachment figures.
YOU in Narcissist’s Harem of Internal Objects
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the narcissist’s convoluted relationships with internal objects. He explains the distinction between external and internal objects and delves into the narcissist’s interactions with internal objects. Vaknin explores the stages of separation-individuation and the impact of disrupted ego formation on object relations. He also examines the narcissist’s idealization, devaluation, shared fantasy, and approach-avoidance dynamics with internal objects. Additionally, he discusses the narcissist’s need to convert external objects into bad internal objects and the impact of the empty core on the schizoid patient’s strategies for dealing with it.
Personality Disorders: Child’s Defense Against Madness (Schizotypy and Neoteny)
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the relationship between schizotypy and personality disorders. He explains that schizotypy is a spectrum that includes both positive and negative traits, such as creativity, cognitive disorganization, and impaired reality testing. He suggests that there are two types of psychopaths: primary psychopaths who are grandiose and impulsive, and secondary psychopaths who have access to emotions and empathy but are low on narcissism. He also explains that schizotypy is not a mental illness but a personality theory that suggests that everyone has some degree of disorganization and chaos.
Narcissist’s Internal Family System: Parts in Conflict
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the concepts of pseudo-identities, self-states, and complexes in individuals with mental health disorders. He explains the differences between these concepts and how they affect a person’s behavior, emotions, and thoughts. He also discusses the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model and its three types of parts: managers, exiles, and firefighters, and how they interact with each other. Ultimately, without treatment, personality disordered people can withdraw into a schizoid phase, disappearing externally as they had always been absent and void internally.
Narcissist’s Partner: Womb, Fetish (Schizoid Undead Reborn, Borderline, Codependent)
Professor Sam Vaknin discusses the evolution of the ego and how it is molded through external object relations. He explains that bad object relations with caregivers can lead to a child becoming schizoid or creating a false self to maintain external object relations while shielding the schizoid inner absence. Individuals with personality disorders, such as narcissism, paranoia, depression, borderline, and codependency, use different solutions to cope with their inner emptiness and lack of object relations. The role of the intimate partner in the life of a narcissist is regulatory and life-sustaining, and they serve as the safe zone where the narcissist can be himself and experience the schizoid state. Ultimately, all narcissists, borderlines, and codependents end up losing the battle and becoming full-fledged