A New Way to Spot the Most Dangerous Narcissists

You may be familiar enough with ordinary narcissism, a quality that characterizes people with self-aggrandizing tendencies as well as a lack of empathy and manipulativeness. Beyond this level is pathological narcissism, a variant that also includes elements of psychopathy and is particularly harmful to those in relationships with such individuals. People with its most extreme form, known as “malignant narcissism,” can become even more threatening to your safety and well-being.

According to Jonathan Faucher of the Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres, malignant narcissism (MNARC) is associated with a “constellation of antagonistic dispositions… people with MNARC are described as impulsive, irrational, and sometimes violent… while presenting with destructive and revengeful tendencies” (p. 723).

Popularly characterized in the media in a variety of crime shows and murder mysteries, this set of qualities hasn’t gone unnoticed in the clinical literature. Faucher and his colleagues sought to pull out from available measures of MNARC one that would meet a variety of statistical criteria as well as be clinically useful and easily administered in a clinical context. Their work can provide useful signs to watch out for should you be at the mercy of someone who fits the MNARC profile.

Where to Start in Identifying Malignant Narcissism

The Canadian research team began their search for an MNARC questionnaire within what’s known as the Alternative Model for Personality Disorder (AMPD), proposed by authors of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (the DSM-5-TR), as an alternative to the diagnostic system currently in use by clinicians. The AMPD approaches personality disorders not as individual categories but as disturbances in the domains of self and interpersonal functioning.

In the hands of a trained clinician, the AMPD provides a way to give a diagnosis of an individual within “Criterion A” along these dimensions. In “Criterion B,” clinicians rate an individual within five maladaptive personality domains that each contain facets, leading to 25 separate ratings intended to capture the essence of an individual’s level of pathology. Accompanying the AMPD is a measure known as the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), which has gained considerable empirical support. More specifically, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Faceted Brief Form provides items at the facet level within each of the five personality trait domains.

MNARC’s Key Qualities

Beginning with a list of PID-5 facet traits rated by 15 expert clinicians on a 0 to 3 scale as matching a “prototypical” person with MNARC, the authors narrowed the original set of 25 down to the 11 that met the rigorous statistical criteria involving agreement among the experts as matching the prototype with a rating of no less than two per item. These 11 facets, with sample items, are listed below; each is rated on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (very false or often false) to 3 (very true or often true):

1. Grandiosity: To be honest, I’m just more important than other people.
2. Callousness: I really don't care if I make other people suffer.
3. Manipulativeness: I'm good at making people do what I want them to do
4. Hostility: I am easily angered
5. Suspiciousness: Plenty of people are out to get me
6. Deceitfulness: I often make up things about myself to help me get what I want
7. Irresponsibility: I'm often pretty careless with my own and others' things.
8. Risk-taking: I have no limits when it comes to doing dangerous things.
9. Restricted affectivity: I don't get emotional
10. Impulsivity: I usually do things on impulse without thinking about what might happen as a result.
11. Attention Seeking: I love getting the attention of other people.

As you can see from these items, they are highly specific and behavior-oriented. Although they are administered in a self-report format, these features can help ensure that those filling the questionnaire out may be less likely to distort their responses intentionally in a favorable direction. Also, with 100 items, the test is reasonably quick to complete but also contains enough items per facet (four) so that the scores don’t rely on a single instance of reporting per facet.

In moving from this expert-derived list of 11 items to the next phase of validity testing, the authors recruited a community sample of 288 individuals diagnosed with personality disorder (PD), ranging from 18 to 89 years old, who they compared with 1103 non-PD adults from the community with a similar age range.

Narcissism Essential Reads

A New Peek Behind the Mirror of Narcissism

4 Dubious Pop Psychology "Understandings"

Consistent with prediction, scores in the PD sample were indeed higher on the MNARC than those from the non-clinical sample. More importantly, the MNARC scores had greater statistical weight in differentiating the two groups than the measures based on related personality disorder tests. This so-called “incremental validity” led support to the value of the MNARC as an instrument that captures MNARC’s unique qualities.

In evaluating the importance of the 11 MNARC facets, Faucer et al. observed that Grandiosity and Callousness rose to the top of the list, leading the authors to conclude that “MNARC is, fundamentally, a form of narcissism, mostly grandiosity, but infused with psychopathic, sadistic, and aggressive tendencies” (pp. 730-731). Also important in distinguishing MNARC from other forms of narcissism was "suspiciousness," “capturing the orientation and mistrust described in MNARC formulations (p. 731). Still making it to the top 11 list, were all antagonism facets involving “relationally abrasive personality traits.”

One way to think of MNARC, then, is as an “intermediate point” between narcissism and antisocial personality. Where it becomes differentiated is in MNARC’s incorporation of such malevolent qualities as “sadism, insensitivity, hatefulness, and vengefulness, which may reflect internal representations of others infused with hate and rage” (p. 732).

These findings, according to the Canadian authors, are completely consistent with the theory of the malignant narcissist as its own entity, worthy of examination on its own. With the MNARC, clinicians now have a way to capture this unique set of qualities, potentially clearing the way for treatment, as difficult and challenging as that may be.

What You Can Learn to Spot the Malignant Narcissist

The list of facets from the MNARC questionnaire can give you some guidance in figuring out who to stay away from if you have the luxury of being able to break off a relationship with someone who could ultimately create heartache in your life.

What if you’re stuck with a malignant narcissist, though, by virtue of family ties or connections at work or in the community? If you can’t escape from their potentially harmful clutches, you can at least be forewarned. By knowing what to watch for, such as having an MNARC individual borrow and then destroy items of importance to you, it may be possible to put up a set of boundaries to prevent this from happening in the future.

You can also learn to spot the signs of manipulativeness that could lead you down a pathway to unfortunate outcomes. Do you feel that you’re being lied to or made to suffer? Does this other person express mistrust of everyone around them and try to draw you into their web of suspiciousness? As difficult as it may be to pull away from them, for your own protection, you may just have to learn firmly to say “no.”

To sum up, the discovery and identification of a new measure of narcissism, a form so destructive as to be called “malignant,” can provide you with important guidance in managing to avoid the harm they will try to direct to you. To seek your own fulfillment at times requires that you learn the warning signs of who in your life is trying to thwart this growth-enhancing process.

Facebook image: fizkes/Shutterstock