Rethinking Narcissism

Are you a narcissist?What is narcissism?" is one of the fastest-rising searches on Google, and articles on the topic routinely go viral. Yet the word "narcissism" seems to mean something different each time it's uttered. In fact, the more it's slung about, the more elusive its true meaning becomes. The only certainty, it would seem, is that it's "bad" to be a narcissist really bad. That's terrible news for millennials, who've been branded "the most narcissistic generation ever."In Rethinking Narcissism, Dr. Craig Malkin a Harvard Medical School Instructor and clinical psychologist with more than two decades of clinical experience offers a radically new model for understanding this often misused term. Narcissism, argues Dr. Malkin, is essentially a spectrum of self-importance and everyone falls somewhere on the scale between utter selflessness and total arrogance. When we casually invoke the term "narcissist," most of us are referring to the outer edge of the spectrum, which can shade into dangerous psychopathy. But there are also those who live at the lower end of the spectrum dubbed "echoists" by Dr. Malkin. These, too, are people we know; people so fearful of attention or acknowledgment that they often seem to have no voice at all. Drawing on his own research as well as on the latest findings in psychology, Dr. Malkin uses vivid stories of people from all walks of life to teach concrete strategies for spotting and coping with excessive narcissism. At the same time, he explains why embracing some degree of narcissism the drive to feel special is essential to maintaining a healthy sense of self-worth. Using his new tool, the Narcissism Test, he not only guides readers through the process of measuring their narcissism, but also offers step-by-step advice to prevent unhealthy narcissism and to nurture healthy narcissism in ourselves as well as in our partners, our colleagues, and our children. As practical as it is wise, Rethinking Narcissism doesn't just help people avoid the temptations and dangers of extreme narcissism and narcissists in both the real world and cyberspace; it helps everyone, including people who don't feel special enough, to find their voices and live a more passionate, fulfilling life."