Taming the Beast Pathological Narcissism and the Essay Example For Students

Taming the Beast: Pathological Narcissism and the Essay Quality of LifeSam Vaknins Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web SitesPart 1Many textbooks (and many patients ) claim that the psychodynamic therapies when applied to personality disorders are ineffective. Functional (cognitive, behavioral) treatments should be preferred in certain cases and regarding certain aspects of the disorder. To a Narcissist, I would recommend a beavioral-cognitive-functional and less protracted type of therapy. (1) Know and accept thyself. This is what you are. You are highly intelligent. You are very inquisitive. You are a Narcissist. These are facts. Narcissism is an adaptive mechanism. It is dysfunctional but it saves you from a LOT MORE dysfunction or even a-function. Make a list: what does it mean to be a Narcissist in your specific case? What are your typical behaviour patterns? Which types of behaviour are counterproductive, irritating, self-defeating or self-destructive? Which are productive, constructive and should be enhanced DESPITE their pathological origin?(2) Decide to suppress the first and to promote the latter. Construct lists of self-punishments, negative feedback and negative reinforcements. Impose them upon yourself when you exhibit one of the behaviours in the first list. Make a list of prizes, little indulgences, positive feedbacks and positive reinforcements. Use them to reward yourself when you display a behaviour of the second kind. We will write a custom essay on Taming the Beast: Pathological Narcissism and the specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now (3) Keep doing this with the express intent of conditioning yourself. Be objective, predictable and just in the administration of both punishments and awards, positive reinforcements and feedback and negative ones. Learn to trust your inner court. Constrain the sadistic, immature and ideal parts of your personality (known as superego in psychoanalytic parlance) by the application of a uniform codex, a set of immutable and invariably applied rules. (4) Once sufficiently conditioned, monitor yourself incessantly. Narcissism is sneaky and it possesses all your resources because it is you. It is intelligent because you are. Beware and never lose control. With time this onerous regime will become a second habit and supplant the Narcissistic (pathological) superstructure. All the above can be amply summed by suggesting to you to become your own parent. This is what parents do and the process is called education or socialization. If your particular path to the adoption of this course is a particular therapy go ahead. As a metaphor, a narrative, no therapeutic approach is better or worse than any otherPart 2In the previous part we discussed the healing prospects of a Narcissist. yet, how can a False Self be anything but false? How can anyone on a permanent diet of reflections ever see true objects? How can the Narcissist whose essence is the devouring of meaningful others and their transformation into meaningless and other ever love?The answer is: discipline, decisiveness, clear targets, conditioning, justice. The Narcissist is the product of unjust, capricious and cruel treatment. He is the finished product of a production line of self recrimination, guilt and fear. He needs to take the antidote to counter the Narcissistic poison. Unfortunately, the re is no drug I know of which can ameliorate pathological Narcissism. Confronting one s parents and childhood is a good idea if the Narcissist feels that he is ready for it. Can he take it? Can he cope with new truths, however painful? The Narcissist must be careful. This is playing with fire. But if he feels confident that there is nothing that can be revealed to him in such a confrontation that he cannot withstand it is a good and wise move in the right direction. My advice to the Narcissist would then be: just dedicate a lot of time to rehearsing it and define well what is it exactly that you want to ask. Do not turn this into a monodrama, group dynamics or trial. Ask so that you shall be answered. Dont try to prove anything, to vindicate, to avenge, to take revenge, to win, to exculpate. Talk as you would with yourself. Do not try to sound professional, mature, intelligent, knowledgeable and distanced. There is no problem to solve just a condition to adjust yourself to. Think about it as diabetes. .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 , .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 .postImageUrl , .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 , .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517:hover , .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517:visited , .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517:active { border:0!important; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517:active , .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517 .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u1929fe4d093d7a94e2c2a7de9899a517:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Winter - My Favorite Season EssayAt the risk of sounding heartless, I will make three concluding comments:(a) The Narcissist should take life in general and yourself, in particular, much less seriously. Being immersed in ones self and in ones condition is never the right recipe to functionality, let alone happiness. The world is a comic, absurd place. It is indeed a theater to be enjoyed. It is full of colors and smells and sounds to be treasured and cherished. It is varied and it accommodates and tolerates everyone and everything, even Narcissists. (b) The Narcissist should regard your condition as an advantage. I am NPD. So I write about it. My advice to the Narcissist would be: ask yourself what can you do with it? In Chinese the ideogram for crisis and opportunity is one and the same. Why dont you transform the curse in your life into a blessing in other peoples lives? Why dont you tell them your story, warn them, teach them how to avoid the same pitfalls, how to cope with the damage? Why dont you do all this in a more institutionalized manner? For instance, you can start a discussion group on the internet. You can establish Narcissists Anonymous in some community shelter (despite your temporary incapacity). You can open a correspondence network, a help center for women in your condition the possibilities are endless. And it will instill in you a regained sense of self worth, a purpose, self-confidence and reassurance. It is only by helping others that we can help ourselves. This is, of course, a suggestion not a prescription. But it demonstrates the ways in which you can derive power from adversity. (c) It is easy for the Narcissist to think about Pathological Narcissism as the source of all that is evil and wrong in his life. Narcissism is a catchall phrase, a conceptual scapegoat, an evil seed. It conveniently encapsulates the predicament of the Narcissist. It introduces logic and causal relations into his baffled, tumultuous world. But this is a trap. The human psyche is too complex to be captured by a single, all-encompassing explanation, however convincing. The road to self-help and self-betterment passes through numerous junctions and stations. Narcissism is the first and the foremost. But there are many other participants in the complex dynamics that is the soul of the Narcissist. The Narcissist should take responsibility for his life and not relegate it to some hitherto rather obscure psychodynamic concept. This is the first and most important step to healing. REFRRENCES:(1) Freud S. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905) Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud Vol. 7 Hogarth Press, 1964(2) Horowitz M.J. Sliding Meanings: A defense against threat in narcissistic personalities International Journal of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 1975;4:167(3) Kernberg O. Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism Jason Aronson, 1975(4) Kohut M. The Analysis of the Self International Universities Press, 1971

Yield to Maturity Essays

Yield to Maturity Essays Yield to Maturity Essay Yield to Maturity Essay In economics yield to mature is the internal rate of return from the flows of cash of fixed income security, especially from bonds. Yield is paid if the bonds or other securities are to be held until their maturity. Yield to maturity is a measurement of the return from the bonds. Yield to maturity gives investors the opportunity to calculate the fair value of financial instruments. Yield to maturity applies exactly to a zero coupon bond. The reason is that this bond has no interest to be reinvested. (Yield to Maturity) Yield to maturity assumes that all interests and dividends are reinvested. It takes also into account losses and gains in case of difference between the purchase and redemption price. Economists say that yield to maturity is a projection of future performance, because yield to maturity has to assume a reinvestment and the rate of yield to maturity itself. In other words, yield to maturity â€Å"an implicit function that can only be evaluated by the method of successive approximations†. To achieve the quoted yield to maturity is easy when a zero coupon bond is to be help until maturity. Yield to maturity is mostly quoted in terms of â€Å"bond-equivalent yield†. (Yield to Maturity) For example, let’s consider a zero coupon bond that is 30 years. Its face value would be $100. The bond would cost $5.73 today if it is priced at a yield to maturity of 10%. The annualized return would be 10% over the thirty years, because the price would advance to $100. Let’s suppose that during first 10 years the interest rates would decline. In the result the yield to maturity would fall to 7%. After 20 years of maturity the bond price would be $25.84. Nevertheless even in such situation the yield to maturity for bond would be just 7%. The bargained yield to maturity for the moment of bond buying was 10%, the earned return over the 10 years would be 16.26%. But it doesn’t mean that the bond holder will earn 16.26 annually over the remaining 20 years. His annual income would be only 7%. It will be found that over the 30 years period the annual return would be 10%. (Bond Yield to Maturity) References â€Å"Yield to Maturity: Definition†. (2005). Retrieved September, 17, from investorwords.com.

Mental Health- Young Adults and depression Essay

Mental Health- Young Adults and depression - Essay Example It is estimated that about 5.8 % of males and 9.5 % of females in the world experience a depressive episode every year (WHO 2001). Depression is a condition that should be differentiated from the normal feeling of sadness and decreased mood that is normal event in everyday’s life. There are several psychiatric conditions classified by the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM IV TR) that are characterized by depressed mood also called mood disorders. All of them can be characterized in two broader groups depending if person had manic episodes which are major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. There are many subtypes of these conditions, but they are all characterized with episodes of depressed mood, diminished sense of pleasure and interest, feelings of guilt and low self esteem, feeling of low energy and worthlessness, insomnia, changes in appetite with weight loss or weight gain and other symptoms that can be a major cause of disability in the nor mal functioning of one person and other symptoms (Sadock et al 2002). ... ity to think or concentrate; indecisiveness - Recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, or specific plan for suicide (Kendler and Gardner 1998). Major depressive disorder is a condition without exact known pathopfisiology. Based on some clinical and pre - clinical trials it is suggested that disbalance of the serotonin, norepinefrine, dopamine and other neurotransmitters is the major etiological factor for depression. These conclusions are based mainly on the efficacy of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) and other specific antidepressants in treating the symptoms of major depression (Nutt 2008). The mechanism of action of these drugs is more complex than simply elevating the levels of serotonin for example, because other substances like cocaine for example that cause only short elevation of the neurotransmitter levels are not effective in controlling the symptoms of depression on a longer terms and can even cause depressive episodes (Viggiano et al. 2004). Also it is known that several weeks of treatment with antidepressive drugs are necessary in order to achieve changes in the symptoms (Quitkin et al. 1996). This suggest that the mechanism of action of antidepressants is more complex where antidepressants after the initial effect on neurotransmission trigger subsequent neuroplstic changes in the brain that will result in a longer-term in the psychologic behavior of the individual. This only suggest that other factors than serotonin levels, like social, psychological, environmental and other are important in the development and treatment of depression (Robert and Frazer 2002). Other theory that tries to implement more integrative approach in understanding the etiology of depression is Diathesis-stress model that concludes that depression