Any pwNPD/pwBPD experience with Cognitive Analytic Therapy

Hi All,

I'm new to posting here.. first post.

I have been observing the forums since 2014 when I had my first breakdown which lead me to believe I was a covert narcissist after identifying very strongly with a lot of the traits.

I shrugged it off and tried to get on with it the best I could by myself by distracting myself with work only soon to find emptiness again. I won't bore you with my background and the incidents which set me to believe I am a covert narc.

There are lots of signs and mistakes that I've made which has lead my to finally consult a therapist. Funnily enough when I came in whaling and moaning about my abhorrent personality and how much of an evil person I was.. he suggested that Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) has a very strong success rate with treating Narcissism.

After perusing the internet with the likes of Sam Vaknin and others telling me pwNPD are despicable and evil - needing to be avoided at all costs. I was quite taken aback by what the therapist said, this is a spectrum and the traits you have described can be changed to healthy narcissism.

Anyway.. has anyone had experience with CAT, I have my first session on Monday, fingers crossed I won't keep the same cycle of bad behaviour up after this.

I've no experience of CAT but I have read that it has positive results with BPD. I was planning to mention it to my therapist in due course.

CAT...don't think I know much about it. Another thing to add to my reading list.

Take a look..

http://www.acat.me.uk/reformulation.php ... cle_id=373

Thanks for posting that link, loganwolf. I signed up for cat therapy a few years ago, and I recognise some of the terms used by my therapist. However, cat therapy turned out not to be suitable for me, because I needed help with a specific issue from my past, rather than narcissism more generally, although the two were directly related.

Anyway, good luck. My therapist helped me to understand and more readily accept my narcissism, which did help me to feel better. Cat therapy does sound like a good choice for narcissists, with a better understanding of them than you generally see.

By the way, I relate to your feelings about being 'abhorrent and evil'. It is a horrible feeling, but hopefully, therapy and this forum will help you. All the best to you.

Bitty,

How are you getting on with it?

I guess I'm after some reassurance that there's light at the end of the tunnel..

I have followed several people's journeys the likes of addx and VioletAasA, I hope people have found their way to their true selves.

Have a look at this and see if you can relate:

http://www.joeylessem.co.uk/ThePsychotherapyFile.pdf

loganwolf wrote:Bitty,

How are you getting on with it?

I guess I'm after some reassurance that there's light at the end of the tunnel..

I have followed several people's journeys the likes of addx and VioletAasA, I hope people have found their way to their true selves.

Well, I didn't post at first, because I can't really talk about cat therapy. Although that's what I was supposed to have, I kept diverting the sessions to talk about that issue in my past that I mentioned, so everything got directed around that. My therapy finished a couple of years ago.

But as far as narcissism in general goes, well, I do see people as individuals now, and if I catch myself, for example, becoming annoyed at being kept waiting, or thinking that someone's admiring me, I can usually 'catch' myself and give myself a reality check. I should say, though, that that process started naturally, long before therapy. I think it's a process of gradually evolving, once you become self aware.

I definitely treat people better than I used to, and my narcissism's much milder than it used to be. You're self aware, and starting therapy, so give yourself time to change and improve, slowly but surely.

I've had some (or was it DBT?), but my shrink wouldn't diagnose me with NPD (mainly due to age issues).


One thing I remember (and still try to use in my life) was a little chart. It showed how my highs (grandiosity) and my lows (self-hate/self-destruction) were interlinked to my feelings. Has it worked? In some scenarios, yes. But it made a lot of sense and probably was the easiest thing that's ever allowed me to display my behaviours on paper.


Anyways, shrink went on maternity leave and a psychologist came in. Couldn't stand her and lasted two sessions, stopped going after that. No clue if she was trying to carry the behaviour on. I'd bite her hands off to go back to that kind of therapy.


Even now, I've yet to see anything that has come close when it comes to trying to explain my behaviour.

This is really interesting. Is CAT more behavioral or more psychodynamic? It sounds a bit similar to Schema therapy. Is it like a combination of schema and CBT?

I've had DBT and lately have been using it again and find it very helpful. I've gotten so good at it I barely even have to remind myself to be mindful anymore--it's almost second nature. But DBT/CBT still doesn't get to the root of the problem, which is why I opted for psychodynamic therapy (my therapist is using a combination of reparenting/trauma/schema/EFT and he is highly empathic which totally rocks for someone like me because he is using his own empathy to model it for me. I'm determined to get to the causes and roots of my BPD/narcissism because I just don't want to be that way anymore.

I have this idea that BPD and NPD are the same disorder, only the pwNPD has a layer of "polish" on top of the emotional dysregulation which makes them look better on the surface. If you strip away that shiny surface, a pwNPD is going to act more borderline or more "crazy." But ironically, when you reach that point, you are closer to your TS than with all that narcissistic shine covering the emotional turmoil. I think covert NPD is very similar to BPD and if a dx is given, it's probably going to be BPD, not NPD.
My therapist won't give me a diagnosis either. He treats trauma rather than disorders, which I think is a better way to handle things because it treats you as a human being, not a medical diagnosis. But I recognize the techniques he is using as the same ones used for pwNPD and BPD.