Stigmatizing Narcissists & Narcissism: Are They the Secondhand Smoke of Our Time?

The thing about smoking cigarettes is that the behavior is something we wanted to stigmatize, in order to decrease its frequency in people. At its height in the 1950s and 1960s, 2 out of every 5 people smoked in the U.S. It’s a huge health hazard, decreasing lifespan and increasing health problems in smokers. But smoking doesn’t just impact the person who smokes. Through decades’ worth of research findings, we now understand the smoking also affects the people around smokers, causing health problems and decreasing lifespans through secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke, therefore, is also something people seek to stigmatize. So I find it a bit curious and disconcerting when a well-meaning psychologist compares someone with a mental disorder to someone who smokes. And the people around them as suffering from secondhand smoke.. MedCircle and Dr. Ramani Durvasula recently released a video series focusing on narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). NPD is a mental disorder, specifically one of the ten personality disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (2013). All personality disorders are long-term ways an individual has learned to understand and cope with the world around them with problematic, dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors. Narcissistic personality disorder is currently in vogue, given the popularity of social media that reinforce narcissistic behaviors. Dr. Ramani Durvasula is a license...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: General Mental Health and Wellness Minding the Media Narcissism Personality Policy and Advocacy Relationships Stigma Narcissistic Personality Disorder second-hand smoke secondhand smoke Source Type: blogs