Disorders of Narcissism ― Diagnostic, Clinical, and Empirical Implications

Within the last few decades, important clinical, theoretical, and empirical findings have stimulated enormous discussion and controversy regarding the nature of pathological narcissism and the definition and treatment of narcissistic personality disorder. The results of systematic studies of narcissistic personality disorder and the characteristics of pathological narcissism have clarified a number of diagnostic issues and precipitated changes in the diagnostic criteria set, but also provoked challenges to narcissistic personality disorder's diagnostic status and its validity as a long-term personality disorder.

Written by a distinguished group of experts who have made important contributions to our understanding in this field, Disorders of Narcissism: Diagnostic, Clinical, and Empirical Implications is the most comprehensive overview of narcissistic pathology and narcissistic disorders to date. Combining the latest empirical evidence, clinical diagnostic observations, and advances in treatment, this volume addresses important subjects at the forefront of the study of narcissism, including cognitive treatment, normal narcissism, pathological narcissism and suicide, and the connection between pathological narcissism, trauma, and alexithymia.

The book is divided into four parts. The authors discuss relevant areas of development in the field, highlight specific theoretical rationales, pinpoint differences in diagnostic and technical approaches to the study of narcissism, and illuminate areas for further clinical and empirical investigation.

Elsa F. Ronningstam, Ph.D., is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, The Psychosocial Research Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and a Candidate at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute in Boston. She is also Associate Clinical Psychologist at McLean Hospital and at Two Brattle Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.