Narcissism as Addiction to Esteem

Morf and Rhodewalt (this issue) provide a masterful summary of the research literature on narcissism. In their view, narcissists are highly motivated to gain the admiration of others, and their attempts to fulfill this motivation are ultimately costly and self-defeating because they ruin the relationships on which they seemingly rely for the admiration they seek. Our comment is intended to carry this analysis one step further. Narcissism can be considered a pattern of addiction. That is, narcissism may not be a lifelong personality trait in the usual sense but rather a pattern of yielding to inner urges in a way that proves costly and self-destructive—not unlike other, more familiar addictions. As a result, a narcissist’s life may be characterized not by a stable sense of inflated self-regard, but rather by periods of relative normality punctuated by phases of self-aggrandizing inflation, possibly leading to destructive consequences that may occasionally cause the person to revert to a more normal, balanced view of self. To be sure, an addiction analogy may seem directly contrary to Morf and Rhodewalt’s depiction of narcissistic self-regulation, because addiction is often understood precisely as a failure of self-regulation. Yet the contradiction may be more apparent than real. Addicts do indeed often fail because they indulge their appetites to destructive extremes, but along the way, they may exhibit considerable and effective self-regulation as they manage their activities and affairs toward the goal of satisfying their addictive cravings. Indeed, maintaining a certain level of heroin or alcohol in the bloodstream can be regarded as itself a form of self-regulation—and one that has much in parallel with maintaining a steady inflow of social admiration.