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Narcissism & Treatment.
Narcissists Have Cognitive Empathy, Not Affective Empathy.
New research uncovers potential treatment options.
One big clue that you are dealing with a narcissist is their lack of empathy. Unfortunately, feigning empathy is a well-honed narcissistic skill developed to hide their exploitative traits and appear more socially acceptable.
Current studies reveal that people with NPD (narcissistic personality disorder) possess cognitive empathy while their affective empathy is impaired. Covert or vulnerable narcissism (VN) and overt or grandiose narcissism (GN) are both associated with a lack of some cognitive empathy, though deficits and a complete absence of affective empathy are present in both VN and GN.
While GNs are too busy eliciting attention to consider the feelings of others, VNs are so filled with feelings of self-deprecation and self-consciousness that they struggle to make space for empathy.
