The Dangerous Dynamics of Covert Narcissists
There are two types of narcissists and this one can be insidious…
By Dr T J Jordan
Most of us behave narcissistically from time to time, but that doesn’t make us narcissists. In fact, a little bit of narcissism is thought to be healthy. But Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a different animal — and this personality comes in two basic flavors.
Psychological attributes fall along a spectrum and show up in as many different ways as we are different people. While many subtypes of narcissists have been suggested, two main types dominate our experience. They are overt and covert narcissists.
Overtly narcissistic people tend to dominate our ideas of narcissism. They combine charisma with self-aggrandizing behavior — and they often wield public power. We can’t help but notice overt narcissists. But covert narcissists have insidious ways of damaging our lives and exercising their particular manner of control. Sometimes we don’t know that we’re interacting with a covert narcissist, especially if we’re in a relationship with…
