Narcissistic Personality Disorder - Causes

Causes

The cause of this disorder is unknown, according to Groopman and Cooper. However, they list the following factors identified by various researchers as possibilities:

• An oversensitive temperament at birth
• Excessive admiration that is never balanced with realistic feedback
• Excessive praise for good behaviors or excessive criticism for bad behaviors in childhood
• Overindulgence and overvaluation by parents, other family members, or peers
• Being praised for perceived exceptional looks or abilities by adults
• Severe emotional abuse in childhood
• Unpredictable or unreliable caregiving from parents
• Valued by parents as a means to regulate their own self-esteem

Some narcissistic traits are common and a normal developmental phase. When these traits are compounded by a failure of the interpersonal environment and continue into adulthood, they may intensify to the point where NPD is diagnosed. Some psychotherapists believe that the etiology of the disorder is, in Freudian terms, the result of fixation to early childhood development.

A 1994 study by Gabbard and Twemlow reports that histories of incest, especially mother–son incest, are associated with NPD in some male patients.