Narcissistic personality disorderandavoidant attachmentare traits that can negatively impact a person’s relationship with others and the wider world.
This behavior is said to be influenced by early childhood experiences where relationship bonds may have been absent.
Let’s take a closer look at the similarities and differences between these complex behavior patterns.
What are the similarities?
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and avoidant attachment have some behavioral cross-overs.
A2017 studypublished in Personality and Individual Differences involved a questionnaire distributed to Chinese middle-school students.
Vulnerable narcissists are typically introverted, and veer between extreme emotions, explainsPsychology Today.
Whereas, grandiose narcissists are more extroverted and display an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
A2011 studypublished in the Journal of Personality explored these two variations.
The results of this helped the authors establish a connection between narcissism and attachment styles.
First, that means that dismissing [avoidant] and secure attachment only overlap with narcissism by 2.25 percent.
A 2015 study published in the journal of Psychoanalytic Psychology explored the inter-relationship between attachment styles and narcissism.
This study concluded that analyzing an adult’s attachment history can provide a helpful framework for understanding their narcissism.
