Narcissism And Addiction

When Narcissism Meets Addiction

What is narcissism? Historically, it has been defined as an extreme sense of selfishness and self-entitlement, as well as a lack of interest or empathy in others.

This disorder can be extremely detrimental to interpersonal relationships and creates an overall unhealthy mind frame. If you constantly hold yourself in high regard and put yourself above everyone else, you are setting yourself up to have a much harder time relating to other people.

It isn’t that difficult to identify the narcissists that you may encounter in life. Most of them can’t hide this disorder. When you have a disorder like this, it can easily lead to addiction. These two disorders are very much linked to one another.

What is addiction? Addiction is when you are unable to control engaging in substance abuse or other unhealthy habits. Food can be an addiction just as much as drugs or alcohol. You can be addicted to collecting.

Addiction can encompass a wide variety of things. When we talk about the relationship between narcissism and addiction, there are a lot more similarities than differences. Does addiction cause narcissism? Does narcissism cause addiction? These are broad questions with no definitive answer.

When you struggle with a disorder such as narcissism, it greatly clouds your view of yourself and everybody else. You think you are right all the time, and you have all the answers.

In both instances, you are relying on outside forces to mask your true internal feelings. Most narcissists and addicts both have a very low self-worth. You look for anything to help fill the emptiness that you feel inside of you.

With narcissism, you are constantly looking for attention and positive reinforcement from others. With addiction, you are constantly looking for that next high to help you avoid whatever internal struggle you are dealing with. 

Addiction and mental illness are very much linked. It’s easy to turn to substance abuse when you don’t have all your mental faculties.

When you can’t properly deal with the issues that affect you mentally and emotionally, it is very easy to turn to drugs and alcohol, so you don’t have to deal with reality. This is the same with narcissism.

It’s easy to let your ego cloud the battle going on within yourself. 

The Dangers of Selfishness

There is a lot of selfishness in addiction and narcissism. It’s a lot easier to blame external factors for your struggles than it is to blame yourself.

There is a tremendous lack of self-awareness and personal responsibility that comes with both. This is one of the more frustrating aspects of dealing with addicts. You never really know if they are being honest. I

t’s hard to work with people who are programmed to make excuses. How do you get through to people who are more prone to embrace excuses than they are solutions?

When people are so wrapped up in their own self-interest, they aren’t particularly interested in hearing other people point out their faults. People can get very defensive when you tell them things that they don’t want to hear.

It can be a very slow progression when you are struggling with addiction and narcissism. You are battling two extremely difficult disorders at the same time with both affecting each other equally.

It can be very tricky when a big part of recovery is the belief in oneself. Self-confidence is key to getting clean. But with narcissism, your self-confidence can warp your overall outlook. 

When people think they can do anything, it’s even more difficult for them to accept outside help. In the world of recovery, you need a lot of influence from other people. You need to accept help and understand that you can’t do it all on your own.

If you think that you’ve figured it all out and you don’t need anybody else’s input, you are completely shutting yourself off and halting the entire process completely. In my personal experience as an addict, no one person gets through it alone. 

The Addiction God Complex

When you are dealing with people who have an addiction God complex, the struggle can seem impossible. How do you communicate with someone who doesn’t want to hear what anyone else has to say?

You need to educate yourself on the disorder. You need to approach people with narcissism very carefully. One wrong word or statement can send them completely inward and stop listening to you completely. 

One of the core principles in recovery is to admit you are powerless. Getting a narcissist to admit that is a gigantic task. What it comes down to is giving people the space and time they need to work through their disorder.

It may take some people much longer than others, but the key is to not rush people through it. It can take years for people to really come to terms with their narcissism. It may take a variety of different approaches to finally get someone to admit their god complex. 

Narcissists have a tendency to think that everything wrong in their life is everybody else’s fault. If you can tap into that and show them, they got to this point because of their own choosing, you have overcome a major hurdle.

How do you treat narcissism and addiction? It all starts with letting people figure out a lot of their issues on their own. It’s a very delicate balance between offering a helping hand and giving the right amount of space.

When you have two disorders feeding off ` each other, you really have to face them both simultaneously to get to the bottom of it. Because narcissism and addiction are so closely related, a lot of the terminology and approach are the same.

It’s a mixture of offering guidance and keeping enough distance to let them realize they are their own worst enemy. When people finally recognize their weaknesses, the healing process can begin.