Narcissistic Personality Disorder etc…Dark Triad
I have to say up front the I am not a therapist nor a psychologist nor a psychiatrist, so the opinions expressed here are my own and should be taken as such; they are not to be trusted.
"Dark Triad" of personality, includes narcissism (overly focusing on oneself), Machiavellianism (manipulating others for one's own gain), and psychopathy (having little in the way of feelings for others).
I have been a victim of a narcissist, in fact of many narcissists. Some of them probably had real Narcissistic Personality Disorder (not your garden variety narcissists) and were all over the spectrum from Malignant to benign - if such a thing exists. The United State of America elected an overtly narcissistic president recently so I won’t discuss what harm or hell they inflict on others in order to feel good about themselves. I wrote all about my discovery of NPD and my thoughts at this site which I no longer have control over: Narcissism101.com
See the mayo Clinic’s take on Narcissistic Personality disorder
Here is a list of mental disorders.
Recently I have been studying Anti-Social Personality Disorder and Sociopaths / Psychopaths. I believe I lived with one for years so I know them up close and personal. They don’t seem to have any human feelings…or emotions. They enjoy inflicting pain and humiliation on others. A Sociopath / Psychopath understands emotions in others (the pain they are causing) they just don’t care or they enjoy it.
Go here to find out more about Sociopaths / Psychopaths
I read the book by Kevin Dutton entitled “The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us about Success (2012)” and it changed my mind about this mental illness; it seems to be a unique survival method. Not all people with this disorder are criminals, some are actually people who need the unique talent to survive under extreme situations. Psychopaths are part of the dark triad.
The ‘dark triad’ includes narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy. There is some talk of including sadists and other unclassified forms such as physical sadism, verbal sadism, and vicarious sadism. This is called the “Dark Tetrad” that includes subclinical sadism.
Recently, I may have met a subclinical sadist. “Laura K. Johnson et al. (2019) note(s) that in particular, subclinical sadism, which is sometimes referred to as “everyday sadism,” implicates the “dispositional tendency to engage in cruel, demeaning, or antagonistic behaviours for pleasure or subjugation.” They note that sadists actually experience pleasure in witnessing or causing or acts of cruelty, noting that the rewarding aspect of such observation or behaviour is the suffering of others—which for a sadist, is a reward in itself.”
More on Sub Clinical Sadism here
I have known Dominatrix who enjoy causing pain in clients ( the clients are usually masochists and enjoy the pain ). Therefore it would probably be safe to say that a Dominatrix needs to be a subclinical sadist to enjoy her work. The same goes for a male Dom.
“Machiavellianism is a personality trait centered on manipulativeness, callousness, and indifference to morality.” They often suffer from Alexithymia. “Alexithymiais considered a key trait associated with Machiavellianism. It is the lack of awareness of emotion, including one's own emotion and the emotion of others. Those with alexithymia, alexithymics, are unable to recognize emotion nor describe them.”
More about Machiavellianism here
Conclusion
These people are deeply disturbed and wreck havoc on those around them. Most can act normally, in the best of occasions, but often they are act abnormal. They can be charming and affable. And then they show their real colours. When thinking of the dark triad, I always think of Ted Bundy, the serial killer, who was charming and gracious until he wasn’t. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
