Diagnosed narcissist explains the difference between him and his twin brother

A man with diagnosed narcissism has opened up about how he first realised he might be different.

Narcissistic personality disorder has reached an uptick in recent years, and while many doctors and experts have offered plenty of advice about how to identify a narcissist, hearing it straight from the horse's mouth will give you a better idea of what it's actually all about.

According to Mayo Clinic, narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a condition where 'people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance', leading them to 'seek too much attention and want people to admire them'. However, they may 'also lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others'.

A few people who have NPD have taken to social media to share what it is like to live with it, as well as debunk misconceptions around the condition.

And Lee Hammock, who shares his journey as a narcissist on his social media page Mental Healness, spoke to LADbible about having narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).

Lee Hammock has amassed a huge following speaking about his NPD (LADbible)

The 40-year-old has spoken honestly about his condition in the aim of raising awareness and breaking the stigma around NPD, particularly as it's often used in a derogatory and hurtful way.

Lee finally got a diagnosis in 2016 after his behaviour became more and more erratic, but the dad-of-three suggested that he was just a child when he first became aware of his mental health condition, and a lot of it was down to the differences he noticed between himself and his twin brother.

He said: "It started when I was about eight years old, I started to feel different when I felt like my emotions didn’t click like everybody else’s.

"I have a twin brother, who is not a narcissist; he was an example for me. I could watch him and observe his behaviour. I realised that I didn’t feel the same way he did about people.

"I didn’t feel the deep emotional connections with people that I could tell he felt. But I could play it off from a young age."

Lee noticed that he and his brother had some differences, which helped him get a diagnosis (Lee Hammock)

Lee, who now has over 500,000 followers on YouTube, also struggled to control his anger when he was growing up, and recalled a time when his NPD first really presented itself.

He added: "I had rage issues from a very young age. Another kid broke his arm during recess and I was yelling at the kid because I knew we would have to go inside."

Fortunately, after over eight years of therapy, he now feels more emotionally present and suggests that he doesn't self-destruct in the way he once did, insisting that a lot of narcissists do want to be good people, but struggle to ignore thoughts in their brains.

Lee said: "A lot of narcissists want to be good people, but are out of control. This is how my mind worked before I got diagnosed.

"I wanted to be a good person, but I would always self-destruct and give into the impulses in my head."