It's safe to say that narcissists are jerks, but are jerks also narcissists?

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#1 Jul 17 - 9PM
reallyconfused
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It's safe to say that narcissists are jerks, but are jerks also narcissists?

I've been doing some self-reflecting from early on in the "relationship" with who I believe is an N. I did voice my concern for him possibly "using" me on facebook and he called me out on it and I felt bad for doing it so I basically apologized right away and we seemed to move on from it. I should have listened to my gut instinct right then and there...well anyway the next night he invited me to some holiday party at college, I was shy as that's how I am in the beginning and he knew this. He pretty much just wanted to sing karaoke and didn't really pay attention to me. Afterward he wanted to go to a bar to sing some more, I didn't mind as there was nothing else to do. After singing a song he sang earlier because he got "cut off" he basically ignored me in the bar. Barely spoke to me and I was shy and didn't know what to say....I mean there was like no eye contact. He spent most of the time on the other side of the bar talking to some other girl he claimed he knew from high school...blah blah. He left me alone sitting there, some guys were talking to me and he didn't even care...
looking back I feel so stupid for allowing this treatment. In the end it's like he used my shyness against me and blamed me for whatever transpired between us without actually saying it out loud.

My point with all this is...now that I've read more about NPD it seems that there are quite a few jerks out there who seem to match the disorder...of course I don't want to just label anyone, but it seems all too common. I don't know what to make of some people anymore. What classifies someone as a jerk without NPD because the guy I dealt with definitely seems to have some level of NPD and I can't believe I ignored all these stupid signs. It's like I put this out of my memory until now.

Jul 17 - 10PM
tresor2
tresor2's picture

NPD

There's healthy narcissism, and we all have it, and there's the unhealthy version that moves up on the continuim...into malignant narcissism and APD. A person does not have to meet all the NPD criteria to be dangerous and harmful. Even one or two of the traits can be serious cause for concern. Also, personality disorders are not always stand alone...a person could have features of more than one disorder. Understanding NPD or any disorder is part of the road to recovery but, professionals are extremely cautious about assigning an AXIS II label on a clt. Whether the guy is a jerk or Narcissist is secondary to our own recovery. What really matters is that we use the experience to work on ourselves. We can't change them but, we can change ourselves.
Jul 17 - 9PM
Hunter
Hunter's picture

Everyone's a little narcie,

Everyone's a little narcie, just set boundaries, you'll know what to do. Hunter