Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder are often combined with the other Cluster B personality disorders. Some of the symptoms include:
- history of intense but short-term relationships with others; inability to make or sustain genuinely intimate relationships
- tendency to be attracted to leadership or high-profile positions or occupations
- patterns of alternating between unrealistic idealization of others and equally unrealistic devaluation of them
- assessment of others in terms of usefulness
- need to be the center of attention or admiration in a working group or social situation
- hypersensitivity to criticism, however mild, or rejection from others
- unstable view of the self that fluctuates between extremes of self-praise and self-contempt
- preoccupation with outward appearance, “image,” or public opinion rather than inner reality
- painful emotions based on shame (dislike of who one is) rather than guilt (regret for what one has done)
