Doctor: Alex Jones Diagnosed With Narcissistic Personality Disorder

[anneboleyn]

19. Yep, like sociopathy. Not curable, and therapy is often negative rather than positive.

As several other posters have pointed out, the general consensus is that NPD is not "curable," nor does it respond to medications. In the case of true Malignant Narcissists there is (and always has been at least from very early childhood) a black hole where the basic and crucial emotion of empathy should be -- same as sociopaths. That hole can't be filled, and the MN and sociopath have never developed foundational human relationships because of it. Unlike a disorder like say autism, which can make it difficult for a person to READ and understand the emotions of others, the MN and sociopath are capable of READING the emotions -- they simply do not care what others feel (they only care about the emotions of others to the limited extent that they want to use the person who is their current target and also because they like admiration as part of their narcissistic supply. If they can't use you they will dump you). That distinction is massive.

I have also read that even IF a person with NPD seeks out therapy, it is potentially dangerous, as with sociopaths, because they use it as a way to learn how to "mirror" feelings that they are fundamentally incapable of experiencing like empathy. They will also use therapy as a way to work out elaborate rationalization for their behaviors and to "show" others what suffering victims they are -- "you've driven me into therapy!" (of course every person with NPD thinks he/she is being unfairly treated by the world, which should adore them and sanction their behavior without question).

Like sociopathy, a person with NPD lacks one of the most basic and critical human emotions -- especially empathy. This leads to an extraordinarily warped and cruel personality. They are incapable of true self-reflection, and the person with this disorder will not EVER see their behavior as "bad" or genuinely care about the pain they cause others. Someone mentioned Borderline Personality Disorder -- this is very different from NPD and sociopathy (which share many similarities). BPDs do experience empathy, and they are capable of self-reflection -- they also respond to medications and therapy as it gives them space to reflect and think through rather than lashing out.