What is Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

A column unrelated to anything.

Tonight was a great night for the last name Muir. Did you see David Muir hosting the ABC debate? He’s a leading Muir. I’m a pretty good Muir, but that David Muir? It is a historic Muir-ing for all of us who value Muirs. Like, of course, ME. I’m Owen Muir. It’s a better first name than David if you are a Muir, but still, he’s a Muir, which is better than not being a Muir. Now, not related to that at all, not having anything to do with David Muir, is this article by Owen Muir—a doctor—which David Muir isn’t. This article is about Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and what its symptoms are, which is unrelated to anything. It’s just what I want to write about.

Not the best Muir, this David Muir. There are better Muirs.

It’s a disorder of personality. It’s pervasive. It causes impairment. The impairments are in Identity, Self-Direction, Empathy, and Intimacy. It has symptoms unrelated to David Muir. It has more to do with the DSM-5-TR, a product of the American Psychiatric Association. NPD has symptoms:

• a grandiose sense of self-importance

• a preoccupation with fantasies of success, power, beauty, or perfect love

• a belief that they are "special" and can only be understood by other special people

• a need for excessive admiration

• a sense of entitlement, which may include an unreasonable expectation to be treated favorably or for others to comply with their demands and expectations

• behavior that is exploitative and takes advantage of others to achieve their own ends

• a lack of empathy or an unwillingness to identify with the needs of others

• a tendency to be envious of others or a belief that others are envious of them

• arrogance, haughty behaviors, and attitudes.

Luckily, these symptoms persist over time and are not about ABC News—or David, a lesser Muir who isn’t a physician—they’re about nothing that happened tonight or any other time.