I think you are being too restrictive with the concept of “distress”. The description in the image is about such distress.
Vulnerability in self-esteem makes individuals with narcissistic personality disorder very
sensitive to criticism or defeat. Although they may not show it outwardly, such experiences may
leave them feeling ashamed, humiliated, degraded, hollow, and empty. They may react with
disdain, rage, or defiant counterattack. However, such experiences can also lead to social
withdrawal or an appearance of humility that may mask and protect the grandiosity.
Interpersonal relations are typically impaired because of problems related to self-preoccupation,
entitlement, need for admiration, and relative disregard for the sensitivities of others.
Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder can be competent and high functioning with professional and social success, while others can have various levels of functional impairment.
Extracted from the DSM-5-TR (2022); emphases are mine. Their distress revolves around self-esteem. As you can see, NPD can manifest in different ways too.
A person can suffer from NPD while, unrelated to it, they might hold questionable political views. Those two things are not mutually exclusive; if they were, all people with NPD would be irreproachable.
The sad part is that they are assholes, as you put it, but perhaps in some cases we failed them helping them not become who they became.
If you want to use Trump’s private internal thoughts to make a diagnosis, that’s the kind of intimacy you want an interview with the patient to be sure of. Of course, you want an interview with the patient for any kind of diagnosis, but it becomes even simpler when we’re talking about analysing this level of detail in his internal psyche. Goldwater rule should apply double to this kind of “He acts proud but he’s secretly ashamed.”
That’s true. Even with all the evidence now available, current experts cannot diagnose A. Hitler with 100% certainty. He seemed to have some issues that remind us of narcissistic personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, among others. We can only speculate (as with D. Trump).
I think you are being too restrictive with the concept of “distress”. The description in the image is about such distress.
Extracted from the DSM-5-TR (2022); emphases are mine. Their distress revolves around self-esteem. As you can see, NPD can manifest in different ways too.
A person can suffer from NPD while, unrelated to it, they might hold questionable political views. Those two things are not mutually exclusive; if they were, all people with NPD would be irreproachable.
The sad part is that they are assholes, as you put it, but perhaps in some cases we failed them helping them not become who they became.
If you want to use Trump’s private internal thoughts to make a diagnosis, that’s the kind of intimacy you want an interview with the patient to be sure of. Of course, you want an interview with the patient for any kind of diagnosis, but it becomes even simpler when we’re talking about analysing this level of detail in his internal psyche. Goldwater rule should apply double to this kind of “He acts proud but he’s secretly ashamed.”
That’s true. Even with all the evidence now available, current experts cannot diagnose A. Hitler with 100% certainty. He seemed to have some issues that remind us of narcissistic personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, among others. We can only speculate (as with D. Trump).