How many types of narcissists do you have to worry about?

The world has become more obsessed with itself over the last two decades and it feels as if everyone has become a narcissist in some form or fashion if we’re judging society by its magazine titles and online articles. 

A sad reality of our increasingly interconnected world is that some people can rarely go a day without needing to inform others about what's happening in their lives and this is being interpreted as a new form of narcissism. But is it really?

Narcissism takes its name from a Greek myth about a boy named Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection in a river so much so that he refused to leave it and eventually died from thirst and starvation according to Psych Central.

This ancient cautionary can still serve to help us today but it has little in common with the modern narcissistic personality disorder, a type of mental condition that is very real and can be very problematic. 

Narcissistic personality disorder is a condition in which those who suffer from it have an “unreasonably high sense of their own self-importance” according to the Mayo Clinic and it can lead to a number of issues in people's lives. 

Narcissists seek the attention of others and some lack the ability to understand or even care about the feelings of others, issues the Mayo Clinic noted were masked behind a veil of high self-confidence that can upset with the slightest of criticisms. 

People who suffer from narcissistic personality disorder tend to be unhappy according to the Mayo Clinic and are often disappointed when special favors aren’t arranged for them or if they’re not getting the admiration they believe they deserve. 

However, narcissists don’t come in one form factor and recent research into the disorder has revealed there are two distinct forms of narcissism and three core components of narcissism according to Megan Willis, a senior lecturer at Australian Catholic University. 

Willis noted in an article she wrote for The Conversation that there are two main forms of narcissism. The first is grandiose narcissism, which presents as a grandiose sense of one’s self and is associated with aggression and dominance. 

The second form of narcissism is called vulnerable narcissism and it is characterized by a sufferer's heightened sense of emotional sensitivity which can also lead to grandiose thoughts but ones that focus on insecurity and actions that mask a person’s insecurities. 

A study conducted in 2021 revealed the three core components that tie the two different forms of narcissism together and explain the differences between the opposing types of narcissistic personality disorder. 

Antagonism is a core component of both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and it is characterized by its links with “arrogance, entitlement, exploitativeness and a lack of empathy” according to Willis. 

Agentic extraversion is a core component unique to grandiose narcissism and it's associated with negative traits like authoritativeness, grandiosity, and exhibitionism. 

The third core component is narcissistic neuroticism, which is exclusive to vulnerable narcissism and is associated with traits of fragility, self-esteem issues, and what Willis called “a tendency to experience negative emotions and shame.”

It’s interesting to see that narcissism doesn’t just come in the form of grandiosity but can also manifest in a way many would never have associated with the modern narrative of the personality disorder. But there are other ways to define narcissists. 

Willis pointed out we can use terms like cerebral narcissists, seductive narcissists, or spiritual narcissists to describe some people, but in the end, she noted, the definition of a narcissist always came back to the core two types of grandiose and vulnerable. 

“Narcissism’s multifaceted nature has likely contributed to the array of terms people use to describe narcissists,” Willis wrote, adding some were likely valid but warned against their use since they could create stigmas and prevent people from seeking support.