Narcissists may just be pains in the asses after all!!!
A DSM (diagnostic manual for psychiatric illnesses; bible for service providers) committee on Mental Disorders is proposing an elimination of six disorders, one of which is Narcissistic Personality Disorder; The new manual is due out in 2012. Deriders of the proposal include the chairperson of the very committee which made the recommendation. Many other psychiatrists oppose the change.
My ex had been diagnosed with NPD shortly after we were separated. Boy, did it make sense then (the description of the diagnosis was so bang on) but i felt, i don't know, ripped off or "disqualified" as a bonefide victim of his idiocy and mental chaos. Once he had the diagnosis it seemed like i had no right to be angry with a "mentally ill" person, this a--hole who had totally messed with my life. He constantly overwhelmed people with "his" ideas, pestering, calling, disrespecting boundaries, embarrassing others with him as he relentlessly badgered others to "go along" with his current big, grandiose plan to, i don't know, save the earthworm. Really destructive financial management. It's ME, ME, ME. Everything exists in relation to them only. Lying. Conniving. Manipulative. Usually in crisis.
It sucked to be me!
Obviously the whole marriage was a nightmare (and i lost my night-vision goggles!) but seeing him struttin' around like a wolf who ate the hen and was getting a medal for it; he was all puffed up with his new label as if it validated the fact the "he just couldn't help himself" - he had a disorder.
It made me sick.
I guess, NPDers, you'd better get used to the fact that, really, you're just people who screw things up alot and hurt others in the process. The Mental Health system cannot (and therefore, will not) assist people with these behavioural challenges and so has decided that the problem will be "stricken from the (DSM) record". The government and insurance companies are no longer responsible for you because your illness does not exist. As another blogger astutely put it: NDPers will be "in their worst nightmare - they will be ignored".
In the end i believe the diagnosis for my ex-husband did provide him with relief and he was eventually able to access regular therapy and it seemed his incidence of crises sort of went down but he's still up and down. He lives in the States now and they have WAY different access to services. For example, he got our divorce down there for TEN DOLLARS at the legal aid clinic!!! He is able to access long-term therapy. Without that - it's not easy. I think many NPDers end up in jail. At any rate, they are no longer an issue for mental health, not that they were treated well anyways.
NDP, in my small, itty-bitty view should remain a disorder, a dangerous disorder requiring long-term psychological, behavioural education. Now how realistic is it, you say, in this economy! Who's going to pay for that!!!??? Well, not the government, you can see the way the wind is blowing. Actually, it's been blowing "that way" for quite some time now.
Surprisingly and not-surprisingly, i vote NO to removing Narcissistic Personality Disorder from the DSM
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