Heal NPD

What does it mean to say that narcissists lack empathy?

In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn challenges the common assumption that low empathy is a fixed trait in narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).

Drawing from psychoanalytic theory and clinical observation, he explores how empathy in NPD often collapses in response to internal threat, and how this collapse is due to defenses rather than intrinsic empathy deficits. The episo...

In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn examines the rise of moral panic within contemporary discourse about narcissism, particularly how popular online narratives have transformed psychological terms into tools of moral judgment.

In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn examines the rise of moral panic within contemporary discourse about narcissism, particularly how popular online narratives have transformed psychological terms into to...

Link to episode 1 in this series, on psychotic-level NPD: https://youtu.be/IoxUCbNUJUE

Link to episode 2 in this series, on borderline-level NPD: https://youtu.be/Oz-C503q_9Y

Link to part 1 of episode 3 in this series: https://youtu.be/vUsnambadIE

This is the third episode of a four-episode series describing the narcissistic personality style across different levels of severity. Due to the length of the material, this episode has...

Link to episode 1 in this series, on psychotic-level NPD: https://youtu.be/IoxUCbNUJUE

Link to episode 2 in this series, on borderline-level NPD: https://youtu.be/Oz-C503q_9Y

This is the third episode of a four-episode series describing the narcissistic personality style across different levels of severity. Due to the length of the material, this episode has been divided into three parts. This is part one.

In this part, Dr. Ettenso...

In this video, Dr. Ettensohn examines the growing claim that Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is almost entirely genetic, offering a critical, clinically grounded reflection on what the current science actually supports—and where it falls short. He discusses how genetic contributions to personality traits are often misunderstood, and why claims of “hardwired narcissism” oversimplify a profoundly complex developmental process...

In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn shares an adapted preview from his upcoming video on narcissism at the neurotic level of personality organization. He reflects on what it means to move toward psychological integration, emotional complexity, and the capacity for self-reflection - especially for those doing this work without a therapist.

Drawing from clinical understanding and developmental theory, Dr. Ettensohn discusses how se...

In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn explores the nature of grandiosity in pathological narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), emphasizing that grandiose self-states are distortions that mask underlying vulnerability. He examines how these states emerge, why they are so compelling, and how they become self-reinforcing through positive feedback loops.

Dr. Ettensohn also discusses the hidden instability beneath gran...

In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn explores the deep existential conflict at the heart of pathological narcissism and NPD: the fear of being ordinary. Drawing from a recent presentation by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Salman Akhtar, he examines how the pressure to be extraordinary—instilled early in life—becomes a defining and isolating feature of the narcissistic identity.

Dr. Ettensohn discusses the paradox of extraordin...

In this weekly insight, Dr. Ettensohn addresses the common misconception that individuals with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) never seek therapy—and the even more misleading idea that simply wondering whether you have NPD means that you don’t.

This episode explores the origins of these myths, explaining how they stem from a misunderstanding of personality disorders and the role of insight. While NPD often involves rigid, m...

The "Weekly Insights" series is for paid members of Dr. Ettensohn's Heal NPD Youtube channel. In the short-term, Dr. Ettensohn is posting all even-numbered episodes free of charge. If you would like access to the full series, please follow this link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHeT5kujD1JqHRAi-x8xD-w/join

In this weekly insight, Dr. Ettensohn explores how cycles of narcissistic wounding and dehumanization develop and perpetu...

The "Weekly Insights" series is for paid members of Dr. Ettensohn's Heal NPD Youtube channel. In the short-term, Dr. Ettensohn is posting all even-numbered episodes free of charge. If you would like access to the full series, please follow this link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHeT5kujD1JqHRAi-x8xD-w/join

In this weekly insight, Dr. Ettensohn discusses the limitations of polarized or dichotomous thinking, particularly when i...

The "Weekly Insights" series is for paid members of Dr. Ettensohn's Heal NPD Youtube channel. In the short-term, Dr. Ettensohn is posting all even-numbered episodes free of charge. If you would like access to the full series, please follow this link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHeT5kujD1JqHRAi-x8xD-w/join

What’s the difference between healthy self-love and pathological narcissism?

In this week's episode of Weekly insights, D...

The "Weekly Insights" series is for paid members of Dr. Ettensohn's Heal NPD Youtube channel. In the short-term, Dr. Ettensohn is posting all even-numbered episodes free of charge. If you would like access to the full series, please follow this link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHeT5kujD1JqHRAi-x8xD-w/join

In this episode of the members-only "Weekly Insights" series, Dr. Ettensohn reflects on the positives and negatives of gr...

In this episode, Dr. Ettensohn explores the insights of Alice Miller regarding  emotional abandonment and narcissistic use of the child, focusing on how these early dynamics shape pathological narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).

Drawing from Miller’s groundbreaking work, Dr. Ettensohn examines how a child growing up in a narcissogenic environment learns to adapt by creating a false self—a facade designed to sec...

In this episode, Dr. Ettensohn draws on psychodynamic dimensional models of personality development to describe narcissism and NPD at the borderline level.

Characterized by identity diffusion, blurred boundaries, and disrupted internal experience, borderline personality organization represents an "in between" level where the perceptions of the self and others float in and out of clear focus.

This episode reviews the important conce...

In this episode, Dr. Ettensohn draws on psychodynamic dimensional models of personality development to describe narcissism and NPD at the psychotic level.

Characterized by compromised reality testing, symbiotic object relations, low integration between parts of the self, and the use of reality-distorting defense mechanisms, psychotic-level NPD represents both the least developmentally mature and most severe form of the disorder.

Th...