NPD= Narcissistic personality disorder.
Does social media encourage the development of NPD in otherwise relatively healthy honest people?
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (DSM-5 301.81) is a pathological Cluster B personality disorder characterized by grandiosity, recognition and appreciation-seeking behavior, and a marked lack of empathy. “Pathological” means that is is a condition of mental disturbance that produces persistent, pervasive, and compulsive pattern of excessive behavior such that it interferes with normal social functioning. While the causes of this an other personality disorders are subject to much discussion and debate, they are not just a result of an occasional surfeit of emotionality or conforming to some social norm of behavior; they are fundamental personality traits that are deeply instilled during development or inborn behaviors stemming from some genetic predisposition (depending on what school of thought you follow).
While social media platforms ares certainly formulated to enable and encourage narcissistic behaviors, and is a ready outlet for those with the predisposition for ebullient and self-indulgent displays of narcissistic excess, the idea that it creates a personality disorder is as unlikely as the claim that slasher movies make psychopaths. The more apt complaint is how they have given pathological narcissists an audience of the much wider world than they own personal circle as well as a way to present a curated image of their actual personality that seems at least superficially appealing even when they are actually terrible human beings that you would never want to interact with in your personal life.
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As I understand it, we’re currently at the stage that we’ve established correlation but not causation. Researchers have found a significant increase in narcissism over the last 20 years, and narcissists are naturally drawn toward social media, but it’s kind of a chicken and egg situation. I think the most likely explanation is that social media reinforces existing narcissistic tendencies.
For the most part I do agree but their seems to be another force at work here that may not be fully recognized. " Deeply instilled" is a key word here. Is it possible that emotional feedback is coming in at a rate that is not normally possible? The intensity and sheer mass of it is strong enough to over write and reprogram our brains I think. I have seen it happen almost countless times. There is one key difference that does agree with your post. The majority of those that just seem to fall into this do seem to come back eventually, it could be 3 months or 5 years sometimes.
I find it unlikely to be causative. We all already went through a time in our lives where we thought other people’s evaluation of us was seemingly of the utmost importance: it’s called high school. Yet that doesn’t seem to have increased narcissism.
As for your specific concern: I don’t think the feedback is all that much higher online for most people. If anything, you get less feedback online than you do in person. Now, if you become “famous” or “go viral,” then I could see that playing a part. But the vast majority of online users don’t really have that happen, I don’t think.
It’s more that it’s easier for narcissistic traits to show up in how people interact online, in ways that are less unacceptable than in real life.
I can’t rule out some sort of increase, but I would suspect it would be from those already predisposed, rather than directly causing the issue in the first place.
Humans are also quite resilient and adaptable, and it wouldn’t surprise me if people who grow up entirely immersed in online culture build up protections. Anecdotally, at least, we already see that younger people seem to have stronger bullshit detectors online than older people who didn’t grow up with this type of access.
I still don’t get why my dad needs to check with me on so many thing to see if they’re legit. But I accept that he’s just not seen this stuff as often. The does seem to be getting better at knowing it’s a scam.
I question whether the Internet has actually increased the incidence of mental disorders.
However, the phenomenon of folie à l’Internet, in which mentally ill people connect with other sufferers and mutually reinforce irrational fears and delusions is quite real, even if not codified in the DSM-V.
Well, something has. It started about 20 years ago and has been rising precipitously.
Organic food sales also correlate with a rise in mental disorders.
http://www.ithinkwell.org/autism-correlation-does-not-equal-correlation/?print=print
Left unstated in that article is the possibility that increased awareness and referrals to mental health professionals may have a part in the increase. Nah, gotta be the smartphones.
These are epidemiological studies, though. They are measurements of prevalence within the population, not measurements of how many people are getting treatment. But even if that weren’t so, in order for the theory of “increased awareness” to hold water, we’d have to point to some dramatic thing happening in mental health care that coincides with the rising rates in mental illness.
Maybe it’s smart phones, maybe it ain’t. But the mental health crisis is real.
I don’t think that NPD is considered mental illness.
It’s in the DSM-V. I’d say it’s quite severe mental illness. Personality disorders are difficult to treat.
But we were talking about mental illness more broadly.
Narcissist Personality Disorder classified as a Cluster B personality disorder in the DSM-5.. You can argue about the ‘medicalization’ of psychiatric pathology but under the current paradigm of diagnosis and treatment it is the very definition of a mental illness.
Instances of narcissistic behavior is not by itself a diagnosis of NPD; the disorder is characterized by “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, entitlement, and lack of empathy“ which is not just behavioral mirroring or adaptation but is a fundamental personality characteristic, e.g. the person behaves this way regardless of who they are interacting with, and does so consistently in ways that interfere with normal emotional and social functioning.
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