Narcissism is both necessary and pathological. Every individual needs some narcissism for the Ego to develop, but too much can become a personality disorder. Understanding narcissism can help us recognize the difference and better understand ourselves.  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/peaceful-parenting/202205/how-narcissist-manipulates-the-love-language-concept Transcript: you're listening to psych with mike for more episodes or to connect with the show with comments ideas or to be a 0:06 guest go to www.cyclicmike.com follow the show on twitter at psych with 0:13 mike or like the facebook page at psych with mike now here's psych with mike 0:19 [Music] welcome into the psych with mike library this is dr michael mahon and i am here 0:25 with mr brett newcomb good morning it is the dog days of summer uh yeah so 0:31 second or third longest day of the year or no they're starting to shorter starting shorter yeah yeah 0:37 like a couple days ago was was equilateral 12 and 12 right 12 hours a day like 12 0:43 hours it was the summer solstice yeah that's where for for your wiccans out there yeah 0:49 so i have an acceleration of stonehenge for that we just yes they do we just uh 0:54 read the news about the supreme court and roe v wade uh do we want to comment 1:01 at all about that or wait and see what happens um i don't know what that has to do with 1:07 providing clinical services or being a better therapist so i think that 1:13 i would withhold comment at this point all right uh how are you 1:19 i'm good i just wanted to say that um we had uh michelle stieg here last time 1:27 with us and that i thought that the 1:33 material the information that the the quality of the show 1:38 was fantastic with her you're trying to say she clashes up yeah i thought she i 1:44 thought she did a great job but then who wouldn't yeah yeah well i mean there are a couple of people i could 1:49 think of but uh you know so i don't know that michelle listens to this on the regular if she 1:55 does i just would like to say i i thought she did a great job i thought she really added something to it she's 2:00 always welcome i will be sending her the links to the shows that we did with her and i hope 2:07 that maybe we will see her again sometime all right well reach out touch someone 2:13 oh you get in trouble for that nowadays yes you do so uh one of the things that 2:21 was i think not was is misunderstood i think 2:26 is hugely misunderstood in the field of psychology 2:31 is the concept of narcissism would you agree or disagree i i don't know i 2:38 i think everybody kind of has an understanding from mythology of the 2:44 intense self-focus of the narcissist and then you know i i don't know i can 2:50 separate myself out from my education yeah we were all taught that everyone has 2:56 traits of narcissism uh but that those who have 3:02 complex organized traits that are that predominate in their life pattern have a personality disorder 3:08 the challenge is always where do you make the distinction how do you determine if what you're looking at is just a narcissistic trait or if it's a 3:16 if was intense and organized enough to be a personality disorder and when 3:23 you talk about our education if you go all the way back to the early psychodynamic theorists we're 3:31 really into otto kernberg and heinz kohut if people want to look those people up and 3:36 people like that said that it is imperative to have a 3:42 healthy amount of narcissism for the ego to be able to form you you awesome yeah exactly and and so you're exactly right 3:50 is where is that line between what is healthy and necessary for good ego 3:57 development and where does it become pathologic so do you