Doesn’t it seem like it’s trendy to label somebody as a narcissist today? Like, if somebody doesn’t like another person, just automatically, “Oh, they’re such a narcissist,” right? But here’s the thing: the term actually has gained popularity quite a bit in the past few years. In fact, there are 15 million searches for the term “narcissist” on YouTube every month, and it also seems to be trending upward. So what gives?
Why does narcissism seem to be such a trend today? Do we just blame Donald Trump and call it a day? In this article, I’m actually going to explore three theories on why narcissism is so popular today, and yes, Donald Trump does have a little something to do with one of them, so stay with me.
First Theory.
The first theory is that narcissism is an epidemic, that it’s currently on the rise, that there are more narcissists in the world today than ever before. If you do a quick Google search, you will find evidence to support this. There are many experts who will tell you that narcissism is an epidemic and it’s on the rise, and those experts are looking at the results of a survey that’s been given to college students since the ’70s. That survey is called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, and it’s a series of questions that aim to gauge a person’s level of self-importance and empathy. Because a lack of emotional empathy is one of the red flags, one of the warning signs of narcissism, this study does point to an upward swing in narcissism.
But a 2017 study published in the journal Psychological Science tells a little bit of a different story. Instead, it tells us that the up-and-coming generations are no more narcissistic than any previous generations. So if you want to make a determination based on this, you have to look at all the evidence and come to your own conclusion. And sometimes that conclusion ends up being a little bit personal. So, from your personal experience, do you feel like there are more narcissists in the world today than there ever were before? Let me know in the comments.
Suggested Book: It’s Not You _ Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People.
Second Theory.
Now, the second theory is a really interesting one, and it’s one that has actually touched my life too. This is the reason why I have become more interested in narcissism, and I know it’s the reason why so many other people have as well. There is a type of narcissism called covert narcissism, and “covert” is not the clinical name for it, but it’s a term that was coined to explain this type of insecure narcissist.
So this person doesn’t present like the typical grandiose narcissist, who will tell you that they’re special and awesome and that everybody loves them and everybody should love them. This type of narcissist knows that the world doesn’t reflect that view of them, so they’re definitely more insecure outwardly, but they still have that same sense of grandiosity within. It comes out, and these people can also be very emotionally abusive, but they’ll do it in a more subtle way, so it’s more difficult to detect.
So why is this important, and how does it relate to the popularity of narcissism? No one was really talking about covert narcissism until a few years ago. I believe that there are plenty of people out there who have been dealing with covert narcissists, but they didn’t have a label for it. They didn’t know that there was a personality disorder associated with this personality type that they were dealing with. If you’re dealing with somebody who is causing problems in your relationship and may be hurting your own self-esteem, but doesn’t have a personality disorder, hold on to hope that they’ll change.
So this information about covert narcissism that has come out has let a whole group of people who have been living with it know that it is a personality disorder, and that this person is not going to change, and that you’ve been dealing with emotional abuse. So it’s time to get out.
Suggested Book: Prepare to Be Tortured: The Price You Will Pay for Dating a Narcissist.
Third Theory.
So the final theory, and possibly the most interesting theory, is the Donald Trump theory. You’ve probably heard someone say, “Oh, Donald Trump is a narcissist.” I want to be clear: I am NOT saying that right now, but you may have heard it in news outlets, from friends, family members, or virtually anybody. Now, we are not qualified to diagnose anybody, especially not a public persona. But the reason why people are saying this is because Donald Trump does exhibit some of the overtly narcissistic tendencies that we associate with narcissism. There’s a sense of grandiosity in his manner, in the words he uses, and that type of behavior is very easily associated with an overt form of narcissism.
It’s also important to note that we are all narcissistic to some level. We all have some level of narcissism, which is a sense of self-importance. We have to have it, or else we would never be able to do anything right. But somebody with a narcissistic personality disorder is narcissistic to the point where they only care about themselves and lack emotional empathy, so they can go around hurting other people. Just because somebody shows narcissistic tendencies doesn’t mean they are a narcissist.
So what we’re seeing now is probably a lot of misuse of the term “narcissist,” and then there are also people who are just waking up to the idea that they’re probably dealing with a different form of narcissist that they didn’t know about before. I think really it’s a combination of things. The more people talk about something, the more people will talk about it.
But if you think you’re dealing with somebody who may be a real, true narcissist, it’s important to learn everything you can about the disorder. It’s important to come to some form of conclusion about whether the person you’re dealing with is a narcissist and cannot change without serious help, or just somebody who hasn’t been treating you well and can change.
Read More: 5 Weird Texting Habits Of Narcissists.
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