Is the self-aware narcissist potentially more dangerous and destructive?

Answer 1

What a curious and thought provoking question.

My first reaction to the headline question was "why on earth should it make any difference at all to his potential to be destructive?", but then I thought, more and read your full argument.

I do not personally subscribe to the hypothesis of "Narcissism as substance addiction", but if I did, I would first ask myself how your argument works if we substitute "Heroin Addict".

There certainly seems to be a point at which every addict consciously submits his personal standards to his addiction, but that does not seem to make him particularly more destructive and dangerous, just less conflicted, more overtly ruthless ... more OBVIOUSLY destructive and dangerous.

However, the above would seem a good argument against considering NPD in terms of substance addiction, or even gambling addiction, because those who tell us it is an addiction ALSO tell us that it cannot possibly follow the pattern above, which is pivotal to the personality changes wrought by addiction.

I am uncomfortable with the suggestion that an illness "cannot be reformed" ... moral deficiency can be reformed ... illness can only be treated and controlled or cured, or not.

Which leads me to my final thought. "Awareness" may well be the point at which illness and moral deficiency meet in the individual.

Thus, I suggest, if one suffering NPD becomes aware and then DECIDES to consciously abandon all morality he most certainly does have the potential to be more destructive and dangerous than the average, unaware sufferer.

This is not to say that everyone who suffers NPD decides to do this. Many, becoming aware, decide to try and fight the worst effects of the disorder within themselves, at least to the best of their knowledge. However ineffectually.

But when the sufferer makes a conscious individual decision to embrace his disorder, he makes that decision from some other aspect of his personality, and it is surely that other aspect, COMBINED with NPD that makes him more potentially dangerous and destructive, rather than the NPD alone?

The narcissist forms an attachment to his disorder - his fervent protestations to the contrary safely ignored.

This process is described in great detail in my diary (journal) online.

Anything and everything the narcissist learns about himself (and about others) is immediately put to use to enhance his efficiency and to extract additional narcissistic supply.

The narcissist carries with him his metal constitution, his robot countenance, his superhuman knowledge, his inner timekeeper, his theory of morality and my very own divinity � himself.

Sometimes the narcissist does gain awareness and knowledge of his predicament - typically in the wake of a life crisis (divorce, bankruptcy, incarceration, near death experience, death in the family). But, in the absence of an emotional correlate, of feelings, such merely cognitive awakening is useless. It does not yield insight. The dry facts do not bring about a transformation, let alone healing.

The introspection of the narcissist is emotionless, akin to the listing of an inventory of his "good" and "bad" sides and without any commitment to change. It does not enhance his ability to empathize, nor does it inhibit his propensity to exploit others and discard them when their usefulness is over. It does not tamper his overpowering and raging sense of entitlement, nor does it deflate his grandiose fantasies.

The narcissist's introspection is a futile and arid exercise at bookkeeping, a soulless bureaucracy of the psyche and, in its own way, even more chilling that the alternative: a narcissist blissfully unaware of his own disorder.

Based on my book "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"

� 2003 Lidija Rangelovska Narcissus Publications

I think the statement "self-aware narcissist" may be an oxymoron.
narcissist are not self aware, they just think they are.
Probably not much. Go to to the official website and read the 10K and annual report for starters. Also, look at the P/E multiple and other financial metrics. Basic ones can be found at most financial websites.