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Psychology
How Narcissists are Made
For most of my life, I had a one-dimensional idea of what a narcissist is. I pictured a rich, arrogant, and privileged type that loves to hear themselves talk and loves to boast all of what they have. A person who is so used to getting their way that they’ve come to believe the Earth revolves around them with everyone else being just pawns in their pursuits. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve empathized with narcissism more as a genuine mental disorder now that I understand its origins. Narcissism does stem from entitlement, but not the way we previously thought.
It is my belief that narcissists are not created from an excess of self-admiration and confidence but from a lack thereof. The most victimized, disenfranchised, and downtrodden folks are more likely to be narcissists than the hyper-realized and self-important. People often encounter a clash with expectations as they navigate adulthood that leaves some feeling unimportant, discarded, and feeling isolated. This can continue throughout life as the circumstances of our life change. Life rarely works out the way we thought it would for most of us, but narcissism specifically targets those who are unable to let go and get a grip on their expectations.
