In this dialogue we delve deeply into the narcissistic personality: What is it and what strategies we might employ to work with the narcissists who are close to us. Campbell describes a narcissist as one who creates a space around him or herself where they are not connecting to other people because their ego doesn’t let them. They end up creating what is sometimes termed a narcissistic cocoon, a narcissistic bubble, or a narcissistic echo chamber. Campbell describes the three different aspects to narcissism, “Most commonly, we’re talking about a personality trait, meaning we all have some level of it, some more than others. And it’s a combination of this core of self-importance or a sense of entitlement . . . You think you’re better than other people, you deserve special treatment. . . . [This is] what we call grandiose narcissism.” He says that a lot of political leaders and celebrities exhibit that kind of narcissism. Many of us know, work with, or date someone like this and even though it might be fun in the beginning, it turns out to be a kind of disaster after a while. Another kind of narcissism is a combination of this selfishness but also with insecurity or vulnerability. This is a conflicted personality where there is a combination of somebody who thinks they’re important and should be treated specially but are a little insecure and even a little shy. These are vulnerable narcissists. Often they are the ones who end up seeing clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, or therapists because they’re suffering. People in the clinical field when they see narcissism are often seeing this more vulnerable form. The third way people use narcissism is the clinical disorder, narcissistic personality disorder. This causes someone’s life to be impaired such as losing a marriage, money, work.
