Videos

Der US-amerikanische Psychologe und Autor des Buches Unmasking Narcissism – A guide to understanding the narcissist in your life, Dr. Mark Ettensohn, betreibt einen Youtube-Kanal mit hervorragenden Informationen zum Thema. Anders als nahezu alle, der inzwischen in großer Zahl verfügbaren Kanäle, welche regelmäßig eine dämonisierende Haltung einnehmen, ist Ettensohn bemüht, Narzissmus als die schwere psychische Störung darzustellen, die er ist und zu betonen, was zu oft überhaupt nicht gesagt wird: Auch Narzissten leiden! Sie wollen keine Narzissten sein und haben sich ihre kognitiv-emotionalen Einschränkungen und Barrieren nicht ausgesucht. Es wird empfohlen, mit den ersten, also frühesten Videos im Kanal zu beginnen und sich dann schrittweise neueren zu widmen.

Last week,s episode explored the common misconception that people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) don’t seek therapy. This week, we take it a step further—addressing the belief that even when people with NPD enter therapy, they do so in bad faith, manipulating their therapists into validating self-serving narratives. Are therapists truly being fooled? Can meaningful treatment happen when a patient is engaged in grandiose and externalizing behaviors? In this video, Dr. Ettensohn breaks down these myths and discuss what actually happens in therapy with individuals who have NPD. Topics covered in this episode: - Why therapy isn’t about uncovering an “objective truth” - How grandiosity and externalization manifest in treatment - The role of process monitoring, countertransference, and 'vicarious introspection' - Why sustaining a “ruse” across dozens of sessions is virtually impossible - How the therapeutic relationship—not insight alone—facilitates real change Therapy with individuals who have NPD isn’t a game of deception. It’s a deeply relational process that requires attunement, patience, and a sophisticated understanding of defenses. 🎥 Become a Channel Member: youtube.com/channel/UCHeT5kujD1JqHRAi-x8xD-w/join
Are Therapists Being Fooled by Narcissistic Patients?
In narcissistic rage, what appears as a sudden 'switch' is often the result of internal turmoil, a split-off state holding relational trauma and rage, which surfaces when external pressure lessens. #Psychology #EmotionalRegulation #TraumaInformed #BehavioralScience
Understanding Narcissitic Rage #shorts
This video continues the Heal NPD Seminar Series with Dr. Mark Ettensohn, joined by his associates Deanna Young, Psy.D., and Danté Spencer, Ph.D. In this session, the group examines the Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD), a dimensional framework introduced in Section III of the DSM-5 and retained in DSM-5-TR. The model was developed in response to longstanding limitations of the traditional categorical system, including diagnostic overlap, heterogeneity within disorders, and the absence of a clear framework for assessing severity. The discussion focuses on the two core components of the model. The first, Level of Personality Functioning (Criterion A), assesses impairments in identity, self-direction, empathy, and intimacy. This portion of the model reflects a structural approach to personality and aligns with psychodynamic and developmental perspectives on personality organization. The second component, Criterion B, introduces a trait-based system organized around five domains: negative affectivity, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism. These traits are derived from dimensional personality research and represent an effort to describe maladaptive personality features in a standardized way. The group explores the strengths of this combined model, as well as its limitations. Particular attention is given to the tension between structural and trait-based approaches, and to the question of whether personality pathology can be adequately captured through trait descriptions alone. Using narcissistic personality disorder as a focal example, the discussion examines how the model emphasizes grandiosity and attention-seeking traits while underrepresenting vulnerability, shame, and fluctuations in self-state. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding pathological narcissism as a system of self-esteem regulation rather than a fixed set of traits. Key themes include: - The shift from categorical to dimensional models of personality disorder - The distinction between personality functioning (structure) and personality traits (style) - Limitations of trait-based approaches in capturing dynamic, state-based phenomena - The role of self-esteem regulation, vulnerability, and oscillation in narcissistic pathology - Clinical implications for diagnosis, formulation, and treatment Throughout, the discussion situates the AMPD as a meaningful step forward in personality disorder classification, while also identifying areas where the model remains conceptually limited. The session emphasizes the value of structural and developmentally informed approaches in understanding personality pathology. This series is intended for clinicians, trainees, and viewers seeking a nuanced, non-moralizing understanding of narcissism and personality disorders. To learn more about our work, visit: www.HealNPD.org Additional Resources: Newsletter: https://healnpd.substack.com Assessment and therapy inquiries: https://healnpd.org/contact Purchase Unmasking Narcissism: A Guide to Understanding the Narcissist in Your Life: https://amzn.to/3nG9FgH SUBSCRIBE: https://rb.gy/kbhusf LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS: https://rb.gy/cklpum LISTEN ON GOOGLE PODCASTS: https://rb.gy/fotpca LISTEN ON AMAZON MUSIC: https://rb.gy/g4yzh8 Citation: American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). Link to alternative model: https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.14101220 About Heal NPD Heal NPD is a clinical practice specializing in the assessment and treatment of pathological narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, and related personality difficulties. We offer comprehensive diagnostic assessments, individual psychotherapy, and consultations for partners and family members. Learn more or inquire about services: https://healnpd.org
The DSM's New Model of Personality Disorders: The Good, The Bad, and What's Missing
In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Mark Ettensohn examines a growing tendency in public discourse to treat narcissism as a moral category rather than as a psychological construct. The episode explores why this shift occurs and how misunderstandings about the nature of mental illness contribute to it. While many people intuitively apply a medical model to psychological conditions, most forms of mental illness do not operate in simple cause-and-effect ways. Instead, psychological disorders are identified through patterns of thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and behaviors that emerge statistically across populations. Dr. Ettensohn discusses how online discussions about narcissism often move from specific interpersonal conflicts to sweeping claims about an entire category of people. In this process, personality traits, clinical constructs, anecdotal experiences, and moral judgments frequently become conflated. Drawing on both psychological science and his clinical experience conducting diagnostic assessments for narcissistic personality disorder, Dr. Ettensohn explains why diagnosing personality pathology requires careful evaluation and why many individuals labeled “narcissists” in everyday discourse may not have any significant narcissistic pathology at all. The episode concludes by distinguishing several different ways narcissism is commonly understood, and why treating it as a moral category ultimately obscures more than it reveals. Additional Resources Website: https://healnpd.org Newsletter: https://healnpd.substack.com Purchase Unmasking Narcissism: A Guide to Understanding the Narcissist in Your Life: https://amzn.to/3nG9FgH SUBSCRIBE: https://rb.gy/kbhusf LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS: https://rb.gy/cklpum LISTEN ON GOOGLE PODCASTS: https://rb.gy/fotpca LISTEN ON AMAZON MUSIC: https://rb.gy/g4yzh8 BECOME A MEMBER: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHeT5kujD1JqHRAi-x8xD-w/join About Heal NPD Heal NPD is a clinical practice specializing in the assessment and treatment of pathological narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, and related personality difficulties. We offer comprehensive diagnostic assessments, individual psychotherapy, and consultations for partners and family members. Learn more or inquire about services: https://healnpd.org
Weekly Insight 45: Narcissism Is Not a Moral Category
In this clip, Dr. Mark Ettensohn discusses a common but often misunderstood relational dynamic in narcissistic personality pathology: the sudden shift from apparent composure in public settings to emotional explosions in private moments. Using a familiar example - a conflict that erupts after leaving a social gathering - he explores how these abrupt changes can be better understood through the lens of dissociated self-states, splitting, and dysregulated affect rather than simple intentional cruelty. The discussion contrasts how a psychologically integrated person might process embarrassment or frustration with how those same experiences can become catastrophic for someone whose sense of self is organized around fragile and contingent self-esteem. When emotional injury cannot be held alongside positive feelings toward another person, the result can be sudden devaluation, accusatory narratives, and intense interpersonal conflict. This segment is taken from a longer livestream conversation between Dr. Ettensohn and Dr. Dante Spencer. Full livestreams are available to members of the Heal NPD YouTube channel. BECOME A MEMBER: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHeT5kujD1JqHRAi-x8xD-w/join Watch the full discussion: https://youtube.com/live/JjfLbsBuNjA The book referenced: Safran, J. D., & Muran, J. C. (2000). Negotiating the therapeutic alliance: A relational treatment guide. Guilford Press. About Heal NPD Heal NPD is a clinical practice specializing in the assessment and treatment of pathological narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, and related personality difficulties. We offer comprehensive diagnostic assessments, individual psychotherapy, and consultations for partners and family members. Learn more or inquire about services: https://healnpd.org
Why NPD Rage Seems to Explode Out of Nowhere
In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Mark Ettensohn addresses a question that frequently arises in discussions of narcissism and abuse: Is it possible to maintain accountability without dehumanizing? Can someone preserve firm boundaries without abandoning empathy? Dr. Ettensohn clarifies a distinction he often sees misunderstood. When he speaks about compassion toward pathological narcissism or narcissistic personality disorder, he is referring to a cultural and societal stance, not advising individuals to remain in unsafe or harmful relationships. He emphasizes that safety must always come first. If someone is being harmed, the primary question is not whether the other person “knew what they were doing,” but whether the situation is safe and what steps are necessary to ensure protection. The episode explores the gray area between total innocence and calculated malice. Dr. Ettensohn discusses how dissociation and shifting self states can impair consistent self-awareness in personality disorders, while also making clear that impaired awareness is not the same as blamelessness. He examines how behavior driven by triggered trauma states may later be rationalized from a different organizing center of experience, and why this dynamic is often misinterpreted as deliberate manipulation. Finally, the discussion turns to boundaries. Dr. Ettensohn distinguishes kindness from niceness and empathy from permissiveness, arguing that the most empathic stance can sometimes be a firm refusal of access. The episode concludes by asserting that accountability does not require demonization, and that it is possible to reject harmful behavior without reducing a person to a monster. Additional Resources Website: https://healnpd.org Newsletter: https://healnpd.substack.com Assessment and therapy inquiries: https://healnpd.org/contact Purchase Unmasking Narcissism: A Guide to Understanding the Narcissist in Your Life: https://amzn.to/3nG9FgH SUBSCRIBE: https://rb.gy/kbhusf LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS: https://rb.gy/cklpum LISTEN ON GOOGLE PODCASTS: https://rb.gy/fotpca LISTEN ON AMAZON MUSIC: https://rb.gy/g4yzh8 BECOME A MEMBER: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHeT5kujD1JqHRAi-x8xD-w/join About Heal NPD Heal NPD is a clinical practice specializing in the assessment and treatment of pathological narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, and related personality difficulties. We offer comprehensive diagnostic assessments, individual psychotherapy, and consultations for partners and family members. Learn more or inquire about services: https://healnpd.org
Weekly Insight 43: Accountability Without Dehumanization
This excerpt is taken from a members-only Heal NPD livestream, recorded as part of a live, unscripted conversation with members. In this segment, Dr. Mark Ettensohn and Dr. Deanna Young discuss why psychological integration is not about eliminating difficult parts of the self, but about building reflective capacity and learning to tolerate internal conflict and relational complexity. This livestream is available for channel members at the Heal NPD Companion tier, which offers access to these live conversations, where ideas are developed in real time rather than presented as polished lectures. BECOME A MEMBER: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHeT5kujD1JqHRAi-x8xD-w/join Watch the full discussion: https://youtube.com/live/JjfLbsBuNjA About Heal NPD Heal NPD is a clinical practice specializing in the assessment and treatment of pathological narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, and related personality difficulties. We offer comprehensive diagnostic assessments, individual psychotherapy, and consultations for partners and family members. Learn more or inquire about services: https://healnpd.org
How Integration Happens in NPD
In this excerpt from our Seminar Series, Dr. Ettensohn and associates examine why people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) are often experienced as lacking empathy, particularly in close relationships. Rather than reflecting a global absence of empathy, empathic breakdowns in narcissistic functioning are often context-dependent. This segment explores how empathy may be intact or even robust in some situations, yet collapse in moments involving emotional closeness, criticism, shame, or perceived threat to self-esteem. What appears as indifference or unwillingness is frequently rooted in affective overwhelm, defensive withdrawal, or unstable self-states. Drawing on clinical examples and contemporary research, the discussion differentiates between motivational disengagement in more grandiose states and deficit-based empathic shutdown in vulnerable states. These patterns can alternate within the same individual, contributing to confusion for partners, clinicians, and patients themselves. Understanding empathy in NPD as a dynamic and internally constrained capacity—rather than a fixed moral deficit—allows for more accurate clinical formulation and more effective, less stigmatizing treatment approaches. This excerpt reflects our broader approach to understanding narcissistic pathology as a disorder of self-regulation and attachment, rather than a simple lack of care or concern for others. Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/SDKbARRpAUM Citation for the article discussed: Baskin-Sommers A, Krusemark E, Ronningstam E. Empathy in narcissistic personality disorder: from clinical and empirical perspectives. Personal Disord. 2014 Jul;5(3):323-33. doi: 10.1037/per0000061. Epub 2014 Feb 10. PMID: 24512457; PMCID: PMC4415495. Full text link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4415495/ Thumbnail Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash About Heal NPD Heal NPD is a clinical practice specializing in the assessment and treatment of pathological narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, and related personality difficulties. We offer comprehensive diagnostic assessments, individual psychotherapy, and consultations for partners and family members. Learn more or inquire about services: https://healnpd.org
Why People With NPD SEEM to Lack Empathy
In this excerpt from our Seminar Series, Dr. Ettensohn and associates discuss why grandiosity and vulnerability in narcissistic functioning are often misunderstood as separate or opposing categories. Rather than viewing narcissism as an either/or distinction, this segment explores how grandiose and vulnerable self-states frequently coexist within the same person. Overt confidence may conceal underlying fragility, just as overt vulnerability can mask entitled or grandiose expectations. These dynamics are not static but shift depending on context, stress, and internal regulation. Understanding narcissism as a dynamic, internally conflicted system rather than a single trait or personality type helps clarify why rigid definitions based solely on grandiosity fail to capture clinical reality. This excerpt reflects our broader approach to understanding narcissistic pathology as a disorder of self-esteem regulation rather than a collection of surface behaviors. Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/Nh-Or62MNjw About Heal NPD Heal NPD is a clinical practice specializing in the assessment and treatment of pathological narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, and related personality difficulties. We offer comprehensive diagnostic assessments, individual psychotherapy, and consultations for partners and family members. Learn more or inquire about services: https://healnpd.org
Grandiosity and Vulnerability: The Two Sides of NPD
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