Narcissism-Normal, pathological, grandiose, vulnerable?

Abstract

Personality psychology subdivides the narcissism of healthy persons into the grandiose and the vulnerable types (2 factor model), which can be further described in a more differentiated way with the three personality factors extroversion, intolerance/antagonism and neuroticism (3 factor model). The grandiose and the vulnerable types of narcissism can also be found in narcissistically disturbed patients. The narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), which in DSM‑5 is exclusively characterized by the grandiose features also shows vulnerable features; however, these are hidden behind the grandiose features. Grandiose narcissism is relatively rare in the clinical routine. So far vulnerable narcissism could not be diagnosed in DSM‑5 or ICD-10; however, in the future this will be demonstrable in ICD-11 by the dimensional concept of personality disorder even if it does not exist as an official diagnosis in ICD-11.