Bipolar disorders and narcissism: Diagnostic concerns, conceptual commonalities and potential antecedents

Abstract

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and the manic and hypomanic episodes found in the bipolar disorders are characterized by grandiosity. It is possible that this shared grandiosity is a ‘homologous structure’ or reflects a superficial similarity between two disparate conditions. It is, however, possible that NPD and the bipolar disorders are more closely related than implied by their segregation into the separate superordinate categories of personality disorders and mood disorders. Whereas narcissism is considered to be a life-course, stable trait and the bipolar disorders are characterized by episodes of mania and depression, there is considerable research indicating that narcissism may be linked to mood instability (including depression) and bipolar disorder may have a pervasive personality component (i.e., hypomanic personality). Utilizing dimensional models of psychopathology, the current review examined the evidence linking narcissism and the bipolar disorders and suggests that considerable overlap may exist in the domains associated with reward-seeking, harm avoidance and social functioning.