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It’s possible but I don’t really buy it. There’s a very real sense in which narcissism is just a lack of acquired skills that most people have. That skill being
by zwkrt 4y ago
It’s possible but I don’t really buy it. There’s a very real sense in which narcissism is just a lack of acquired skills that most people have. That skill being the ability to see both the good things and the bad things about yourself and about others at the same time. If you’re raised in an environment where your caretaker teaches you they are always right (with severe consequences for pointing out they aren’t) then it is hard to develop a nuanced worldview. The child can either get on board with the parent, become “one of the good ones” and become a narcissist themselves or they can become a black sheep of the family, usually with worse outcomes.
Importantly, the skills can be learned as an adult it’s just hard to do. I come from a long lineage of family members who did not know how to swim, but I don’t think that there’s a genetic basis for this.
- geocrasher 4y agoYou hit it on the nail head with lack of coping skills. I had a grandmother who tried to compensate for the way my mother treated me by treating me like I was royalty. And my coping mechanism for being treated poorly at home was thinking that I was better than everybody else in some way. Combine those two with the fact that I was taught no coping skills, and yes I became a narcissist. When I had my awakening, I was finally able to put to work some coping skills I learned the hard way, in a mental hospital. But once I realized the problem was me, the changes were instant. I was ready for change. Unfortunately, some people have no such awakening. And I avoid those types of people like the plague.