Narcissism and Intimacy: Love and Marriage in an Age of Confusion

Rating:
Summary: Narcissism and Intimacy
Review: A defining dimension of pathological narcissism is the inability to foster and maintain intimacy. Intimacy is not only feared - it is despised because it is perceived as 'common' and 'degrading'. The narcissist idealizes his sources of narcissistic supply and then habitually discards and devalues them. This book is instrumental both as a somewhat iconoclastic introduction to narcissism and as an anatomy of the frustration that is life with a narcissist. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited".

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but by no means enlightening
Review: This book is more of a therapist's guide to dealing with a few particular narcisstic marriages. The only thing this book does is to discuss certain narcisstic personalities in a marriage situation. That's about as far as the author takes the topic. Narcissism is only talked about in a marriage setting, not in terms of any love or relationships outside of a marriage. While the author does give some interesting examples and does well comparing and contrasting narcisstic and non-narcisstic personalities, the examples are few and are very particular to certain types of marriges and are hard apply to anything else. The author also doesn't give any clues on how to go about changing narcisstic patterns if you're stuck in them, which is what I was hoping to find when I bought the book.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but by no means enlightening
Review: This book is more of a therapist's guide to dealing with a few particular narcisstic marriages. The only thing this book does is to discuss certain narcisstic personalities in a marriage situation. That's about as far as the author takes the topic. Narcissism is only talked about in a marriage setting, not in terms of any love or relationships outside of a marriage. While the author does give some interesting examples and does well comparing and contrasting narcisstic and non-narcisstic personalities, the examples are few and are very particular to certain types of marriges and are hard apply to anything else. The author also doesn't give any clues on how to go about changing narcisstic patterns if you're stuck in them, which is what I was hoping to find when I bought the book.