Decompensation

Can someone explain this to me?

I looked it up but don't quite understand it based on what information I found...

How would it apply to NPD?

Psychology In psychology, the term refers to the inability to maintain defense mechanisms in response to stress, resulting in personality disturbance or psychological imbalance.

The Narc at Midlife: Narcissistic Decompensation "The stress of aging or illness and the attendant loss of beauty, strength, or cognitive function can undermine narcissistic fantasies of invulnerability and limitless power. It may lead to an empty, depleted collapse on the one hand or a frantic search for compensatory thrill-seeking on the other, both of which are described in the classic “midlife crisis”. Later-life crises, such as one experienced on the eve of retirement, also may reflect narcissistic pathology. For example, a 62-year-old married man was referred for depression by his internist after a month-long course of fluoxetine had failed to improve his symptoms. He was a successful self-made businessman, married with grown children, but for almost a year he had experienced a general lack of zest, anhedonia, and a sense of detachment from his loving wife. His appetite and sleep were undisturbed. On closer examination, his mood was not depression but pessimism tinged with bitterness and resentment, an affective tone frequently encountered in narcissistic individuals. He was bitter that he had never pursued a dreamt-of career as a theater actor. He had a narcissistic decompensation rather than a clinical depression." ~Kernberg, Kohut and Cooper

LordOfTheRings wrote:Psychology In psychology, the term refers to the inability to maintain defense mechanisms in response to stress, resulting in personality disturbance or psychological imbalance.

The Narc at Midlife: Narcissistic Decompensation "The stress of aging or illness and the attendant loss of beauty, strength, or cognitive function can undermine narcissistic fantasies of invulnerability and limitless power. It may lead to an empty, depleted collapse on the one hand or a frantic search for compensatory thrill-seeking on the other, both of which are described in the classic “midlife crisis”. Later-life crises, such as one experienced on the eve of retirement, also may reflect narcissistic pathology. For example, a 62-year-old married man was referred for depression by his internist after a month-long course of fluoxetine had failed to improve his symptoms. He was a successful self-made businessman, married with grown children, but for almost a year he had experienced a general lack of zest, anhedonia, and a sense of detachment from his loving wife. His appetite and sleep were undisturbed. On closer examination, his mood was not depression but pessimism tinged with bitterness and resentment, an affective tone frequently encountered in narcissistic individuals. He was bitter that he had never pursued a dreamt-of career as a theater actor. He had a narcissistic decompensation rather than a clinical depression." ~Kernberg, Kohut and Cooper

Kernberg and Kohut, two of the biggest contributors to psychological literature on the subject of narcissism. Always interesting to read.

crystal_richardson_ wrote:Can someone explain this to me?

I looked it up but don't quite understand it based on what information I found...

How would it apply to NPD?

@ CR, getting answers coming from a body of literature containing observations and studies of others is nice isn't it?

Arien,

I am a graduate student. I am not unfamiliar with such studies.

I just learned early on that academia alone is not the source of truth.

I read the term to represent an extreme, catastrophic hit to the pwNPD's sense of self because the survival tool(s) they have relied on are no longer effective. This makes me think of the psychotic behavior that DNoble describes about his elderly father. What would be the reaction of a somatic pwNPD becoming impotent?

But in the couple snippets I read, it sounds like some may also use the term to refer to the more common depression that results from narcissistic injuries and low/bad supply... I think of this as more temporary "narc funk". Is there another term commonly used?

To recover from "narc funk", the pwNPD can regroup, relocate, etc. and build image/power levels back up using the same methods that have worked in the past.
-vs-
To recover from a "narc decompensation" state, I think, would require major adaptations of thought or behavior that can only be accomplished by the pwNPD themselves, not from external sources.

Again, just the way I interpret the little bit that I've read. I had not heard the term before crystal's post.

crystal_richardson_ wrote:I just learned early on that academia alone is not the source of truth.

I don't assert that it is the only valid source of truth. I am saying that empirically based methods are the only way to determine such things with validity, both outside and inside of academia.

This originated from my simply pointing out that Vaknin's credentials were not valid. I did not say he had no valuable information. I never brought up any concept that one has to have degrees to have valuable ideas. The fact that Vaknin claims invalid credentials was what I said is questionable—that he feels compelled to do such a thing.