How to spot a malignant narcissist as former FBI agent reveals it's most dangerous personality type
When it comes to narcissists, we’re all aware of the main red flags to look out for - but did you know there’s a specific subtype that ‘does the most damage’?
Joe Navarro, a former FBI special agent and ‘spy-catcher’, sat down with LADBible Stories to spill all about his 25 years in the job and what he learned.
He admitted that contrary to popular belief, the most ‘dangerous’ personality type whose actions can have the most ‘devastating effects’ are not actually psychopaths, but ‘malignant narcissists’.
The expert explained: “You know, I wrote about this in my book Dangerous Personality. 1% of the population are psychopaths, and these are people that clearly have no conscience.
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“They're not bound by rules or by the letter of the law. And they tend to be the ones that you see coming through the system, ending up in jail over and over, doing terrible things.”
He warned: “But I have to say from the mail that I have received over the last 10 or 12 years since writing that book, that the malignant narcissist is probably the one that does the most damage on an interpersonal level, where you have a person, the malignant narcissist, overvaluing themselves and devaluing others, and that discrepancy causes great harm.”
What is malignant narcissism?
As per Help Guide, malignant narcissism is a severe type of narcissistic personality disorder that combines grandiosity with sadistic behavior - it’s considered by many experts to be the most severe type of narcissism.
It combines ‘the usual symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder, such as high self-importance, with paranoia, sadism, and antisocial behaviors’.
VeryWellMind describes a malignant narcissist as ‘an abusive person who finds pleasure in lying, manipulating, and using other people in order to get the things that they want’.
While the condition isn’t officially recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, it was coined by social psychologist Erich Fromm and later explored as a potential psychiatric diagnosis by psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg.
Navarro told LADBible Stories: “I have to say that most of the time it's male-directed at female, and the effects - psychological effects, emotional effects, as well as financial effects are really quite numerous and quite devastating.
“So while certain criminals that, you know, rob banks and rob people tend to be in the area of psychopathy or sociopathy, the malignant narcissist tends to do, I think, the most interpersonal damage.”
How to spot a malignant narcissist
According to VeryWell Mind, there are a number of ways you can identify if you’re dealing with a malignant narcissist.
While the signs might vary from person to person, malignant narcissists will often be preoccupied with ‘fantasies about beauty, brilliance, success, and power’ and struggle to handle criticism.
They’re likely to lash out if they feel slighted, tend to exploit others to get what they want, and can be overly concerned with appearance.
Malignant narcissists expect to be ‘treated as superior’ and crave validation, which is known as narcissistic supply.
Like those with other types of narcissism, they lack empathy with others, have an inflated sense of self, and difficulty with self-regulation.
They’ll often have no remorse for harming others and are unwilling to apologize unless it benefits them.
They believe they deserve the best of everything, tend to dominate conversations and mistreat those seen as inferior, hide insecurities and have a weak sense of self, as well as a tendency to blame others for their own bad behavior
Additional signs of malignant narcissism include:
- Seeing the world in black-and-white terms, including seeing others as either friend or foe
- Seeking to win at all costs, leaving a great amount of pain, frustration, and even heartache in their wake
- Not caring about the pain they cause others - or maybe even enjoying it and experiencing it as empowering
- Doing what it takes to protect themselves from loss, inconvenience, or failing to get what they want in any situation
You can watch the full interview on LADBible’s YouTube channel here.
Topics: Real Life, Life, Tyla Exclusive, Crime
Madison Burgess