Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)is characterized by a long-standing pattern of grandiosity (either in fantasy or actual behavior), an overwhelming need for admiration, and a complete lack of empathy toward others. It is an extreme self-interest with zero real concern for anyone else.
This self-centeredness results from the total failure in a person’s thinking to bring together the dichotomy of both positive and negative qualities of the self and others into a cohesive, realistic whole. The effect is a psychological defense known as “splitting” (black or white thinking, all good or all bad), a term used in psychiatry to describe the inability to hold opposing thoughts, feelings, or beliefs.
Additionally, a person with NPD has an inability to distinguish the self from external objects (lack of whole-object relations) and a lack of understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, touched, or sensed in some way (lack of object constancy). The disorder is generally considered to be a result of trauma in early childhood (abuse), although genetics may also play a role.