I have just finished a non-fiction account of a Green Beret officer, who was also a doctor, who was convicted of slaughtering his family ten years ofter the fact. The book is called Fatal Vision, by Joe McGinniss (http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Vision-Joe-McGinniss/dp/0451165667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276082050&sr=1-1).
In the end-notes, the author cites an extensive study of the narcissistic personality disorder, conducted by psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg, who published many of his findings in a 1975 volume entitled "Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism". I would like to quote a little from that work.
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"On the surface, (pathological narcissistic individuals) may not present seriously disturbed behavior; some of them function socially very well. Many possess the capacity for active, consistent work in some area which permits them partially to fulfill their ambition of greatness and obtaining admiration and approval from other people."
Kernberg observed "a curious apparent contradiction between a very inflated concept of themselves and an inordinate need for tribute from others. When narcissistic personalities are in a position of objective importance they love to surround themselves with admirers in whim they are interested as long as the admiration is new. They obtain very little enjoyment in life other than from the tributes they receive from others or from their own grandiose fantasies, and feel restless and bored when external glitter wears off and no new sources feed their self-regard."
Kernberg considers the main characteristics of narcissists to be "grandiosity, extreme self-centeredness, and a remarkable absense of interest and empathy for others in spite of the fact that they are so very eager to obtain admiration and approval. It is as if they have a right to control and possess others and to expolit them without feeling guilt feelings, and, behind a surface which very often is charming and engaging, one senses coldness and ruthlessness. These patients not only lack emotional depth, but fail to understand complex emotion in other people."
"...Narcissistic patients divide the world into famous, rich and great people on one hand, and the despicable, worthless 'mediocrity,' on the other. Such patients are afraid of not belonging to the company of the great, rich and powerful, and of belonging instead to the 'mediocre,' by which they mean worthless and despicable, rather than 'average' in the ordinary sense of the word.
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It goes on for quite a bit, but you get the idea. How many politicians can you think of right off the top of your head who this seems to describe to a tee? Any one in particular?
