My maternal grandmother is a good candidate for NPD, and she messed up my mother a lot - my mother has addiction problems and is likely borderline personality disorder, as is my sister. My dad also displays narcissism traits but I suspect this may be due to drug use, as it's gotten progressively worse. There are a few reasons I don't think your friend is a narcissist (I'm not sure about John Mcafee) - for one, a narcissist sees the world all through their own lens, and everyone is a facet of them. If your friend was a narcissist, I don't think she would be surprised that you believed her lies - on the contrary, she would be surprised if you didn't believe her lies.
Anyway, a key part of the DSM on NPD is this:
It seemed to me what you described is more of an unstable personality. Also the comments about her quoting the psychologist about wearing a mask may point to multiple personality disorder? It would make sense why her moods/appearance seem to shift suddenly. This is also another symptom of abuse.
Anyway, I'm just fascinated a bit with narcissism, as I think it's one of the active/accurate labels we can give to someone polarizing negatively. Not across the board, of course, but I think many narcissists have taken the step where they see others as things to be used for their own benefit and self expression.
The abuse support group that I visit is actually on Reddit, it's called Raised By Narcissists. Obviously it's for people who grew up with their family or guardians as abusers, so I'm not suggesting you post there for support. But there are resources on the sidebar to learn more about narcissism, and nearly infinite (though they tend to repeat...) stories to read about people who grew up with their parents/etc controlling their every single move in the most subtle variety of ways. It's pretty fascinating to learn by, anyway.
Anyway, a key part of the DSM on NPD is this:
Quote:C. The impairments in personality functioning and the individual's personality trait expression are relatively stable across time and consistent across situations.
It seemed to me what you described is more of an unstable personality. Also the comments about her quoting the psychologist about wearing a mask may point to multiple personality disorder? It would make sense why her moods/appearance seem to shift suddenly. This is also another symptom of abuse.
Anyway, I'm just fascinated a bit with narcissism, as I think it's one of the active/accurate labels we can give to someone polarizing negatively. Not across the board, of course, but I think many narcissists have taken the step where they see others as things to be used for their own benefit and self expression.
The abuse support group that I visit is actually on Reddit, it's called Raised By Narcissists. Obviously it's for people who grew up with their family or guardians as abusers, so I'm not suggesting you post there for support. But there are resources on the sidebar to learn more about narcissism, and nearly infinite (though they tend to repeat...) stories to read about people who grew up with their parents/etc controlling their every single move in the most subtle variety of ways. It's pretty fascinating to learn by, anyway.