When the Teacher Becomes the Student

[Still Waters]

It is sad. Deep down, people with NPD are depressed, lonely people. Because over time, people who are in constant contact with an NPD will start to feel bad about themselves. So they alienate the people around them. Which is why you'll see people with NPD lose friends over time. Either that, or they surround themselves with other NPD's.

I talked to my IC about NPD, and here's the list of common NPD traits he gave me:

amoral/conscienceless
authoritarian
care only about appearances
contemptuous
critical of others
cruel
disappointing gift-givers
don't recognize own feelings
envious and competitive
feel entitled
flirtatious or seductive
grandiose
hard to have a good time with
hate to live alone
hyper-sensitive to criticism
impulsive
naive
passive
pessimistic
secretive
self-contradictory
unusual eating habits
weird sense of time

Sounds great, right? Which makes me wonder why the heck I was so attracted to my W. The thing is, people NPD tend to be very successful in their careers and they're also very charming. They know how to get what they want. It's just that when they get it, they realize that they're still miserable. So they look for something else to fill the void, never stopping to say "Gee, maybe the problem lies inside me?"