THE FOUR TYPES OF NARCISSISTS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
Updated: Oct 23, 2019
Everybody knows that a narcissist is someone who is self absorbed and is under the impression
that they are better and more important that those around them but that’s a very vague way of
explaining narcissism that leaves many people uninformed. There are different types of
narcissists and even though they are diagnosed with the same illness (antisocial personality
disorder). They behave differently from one another.
As stated before, narcissism falls under a bigger branch called antisocial personality disorder,
two illnesses that fall under this branch are the two very similar disorders, sociopathy and
psychopathy. A very important thing to remember is that even though all sociopaths and
psychopaths are narcissists not all narcissists are sociopaths or psychopaths.
What makes a psychopath or a sociopath different from the general population is their lack of
empathy for others, all four types of narcissism may have varying levels of empathy and most
of them never intend of hurting other people.
Covert narcissists
A covert narcissist puts on an act and fools the people surrounding them into thinking that
they are kind and caring when in reality they are cruel and very manipulative. These types of
narcissists often look to hold a position of power and can be found in jobs where it is required
hold some authority over others such as teachers, counselors and religious leaders.
Overt narcissists
This type of narcissism is the most common among the four types. These kinds of narcissists
are often very loud, they always believe that they are right and they, just like covert
narcissists desire to be in control of everything but unlike the covert narcissist they don’t put
on act and they aren’t afraid of showing how obnoxious and rude they are. People like this
are often bullies that attempt to build themselves up by pushing other people down. They
often have no empathy and feel no remorse for the way the treat people.
Seductive narcissists
When thinking of a seductive narcissist, you may automatically think of a romantic partner
who is toxic and drains the life out of their significant other. That may very well be true but
their tactics are not only limited to romantic relationships.
Their tactic is to massage the ego of their victim by manipulating them. They manipulate
their victims by massaging their ego, this is done by showering the victim is compliments and
may even go as far as making it seem as if they idolize them. The reason they do this is
because they expect the same in return. Also, to keep their victim attached to them they play
a game called “hot and cold”. This means that they show affection and admiration to their
partner or friend for a short amount of time and then they show signs of withdrawal. They do
this again and again to reinforce toxic attachment and emotional investment from their
victim.
Vindictive narcissists
Many experts say that the vindictive narcissist is the most dangerous, they have the same
characteristics of the overt narcissist, but the difference between the two types is that the
vindictive narcissist feeds off of negativity. They tend to create conflicts and will go out of
their way to destroy the life of their victim(s). These people will often even resort to
slandering someone to watch their downfall and ruining people’s lives is something that gives
them pleasure. Just like the sociopath and psychopath, they do not have empathy for others.