Hello, this is Bridget, and this is Annie.

And you're listening to Stuff Mom Never Told You.

Now, today, I wanted to dive into a topic that's sort of been top of mind lately.

And that is because I'm generally unnerved by people who seem to be egomaniacs or narcissists

or really, really stuck on themselves.

In this line of work, you really do encounter a lot of people who seem completely self-obsessed,

and it got me thinking, gee, what's the difference between someone who seems like they have

a bit of an ego and someone who was a genuine clinical pathological narcissist?

In doing some of this research, I sort of realized that narcissistic personality disorder,

much like gaslighting, is one of those things that can be really useful in understanding

our relationship with people around us.

And this is especially true when you think about people who are raised by narcissists.

Yes, absolutely.

And perhaps a good place to start is with the definition, what is narcissistic personality

disorder or NPD?

Narcissistic personality disorder is part of the cluster B, our dramatic group of disorders,

and is a mental illness that manifests as an excessive preoccupation with personal adequacy,

power, vanity, and prestige.

People with NPD appear to be arrogant or appear to believe they have an unjustified sense

of entitlement and demonstrate grandiosity in their beliefs or behavior.

They have a strong desire for admiration, praise, but seem to lack any sense of empathy

or ability to appreciate perspectives of others.

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