Criminal psychologist shares one question used to diagnose a narcissist
When most people thinks of a 'narcissist', they tend to picture someone staring into a mirror for hours on end or constantly telling others how amazing they are.
But, as with any kind of psychological condition, there's much more to it than that, and much more that few of us really understand.
Well, fortunately for us, we had criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw on hand to explain exactly what makes narcissists tick.
Dr Shaw, who hosts Murder in Mind with Kerry Daynes, sat down with LADbible for an edition of Honesty Box, where she was asked how to spot a narcissist when you meet one.
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The crime expert and author thinks 'people love this term right now', saying: "Oh, my mom’s a narcissist. My therapist, your ex — it’s almost always an ex for women — is a narcissist."
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is defined as a mental illness and is generally associated with a 'pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and lack of empathy', according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).
During the episode, Julia revealed what she called 'one of my favourite findings' in psychology, known as the 'single item narcissism scale', where researchers found that narcissists can often be identified by the single, simple question: “Are you a narcissist?”
“Psychologists tried with 20 questions and they’re like, well, you know, let’s see if this works," Dr Shaw explained.
"And then they tried actually, why don’t we try one question? And they developed what’s called the single item narcissism scale, which is literally just the question, ‘Are you a narcissist?’
“How do you spot a narcissist? Ask them. A narcissist would probably answer to this question, ‘Are you a narcissist?’ — ‘Uh, yeah, but like, I am better than most people'.
“It’s a realistic appraisal of myself — because that’s what narcissism is, right?”
"It's that overconfidence, it's that think you're great, and thinking that you're better than you actually are," Dr Shaw claims.
She thinks we need to be careful using therapeutic language in a casual and inaccurate way, as it takes away from contexts where it really matters.
When asked if any world leaders are a narcissist, she said: "Definitely. That's all I'm going to say on that one."
However, she added: "When you stop surrounding yourself around people who are experts on the things you need to make decisions about, thats the toxic part of narcissism."
Diagnosed narcissist on tell tale signs
A diagnosed narcissist, Jacob Skidmore, shared three key ways you can actually tell you aren't one.
In a video posted on his Instagram account, Jacob asked three questions, explaining that he'd never met a narcissist who didn't do these things.
"Do you feel like your emotions are genuine?"
Jacob said: "Because for me, whether it comes to a funeral or my friend going through a breakup or it comes to me being happy for somebody's achievement, I'm faking emotions all the time, because I know what's what's expected of me. Narcissists don't have those normal emotional reactions, we have to emulate them half the time."
"Do you think every person in the world has equal inherent worth?"
According to Jacob, narcissists, think hierarchically.
"It's inconceivable to us that two people can have inherently the same amount of worth. For me, there's always gonna be a better person and a person below," he explained.
"Do you love yourself?"
"A lot of people think narcissists love themselves. No, we think we're better than everybody else. We might love how we look. We might love our intelligence. But my internal monologue is a constant stream of 'You're so stupid. Why did you do that?
"There is no self love. There is no self compassion there. It's just grandiosity."
He did stress that he was 'not a clinician' and could only speak to his own experience, so anyone wanting to know whether they were a narcissist should get a professional diagnosis.
Topics: Mental Health, YouTube
Lia Desai