evile

No, it isn’t.

First, if you are not a therapist or a licensed clinical practitioner, you should not be diagnosing anyone.

If you ARE a licensed practitioner, you should only be diagnosing your own patients or clients (and you should already know the answer to the question).

Second, as I have mentioned, Narcissism is a diagnosed mental disorder, with the following characteristics:

an exaggerated sense of self-importance
a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration
Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
Exaggerate achievements and talents
preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
Believe they are superior and can only associate with equally special people
Monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior
Expect special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations
Take advantage of others to get what they want
Have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
Be envious of others and believe others envy them
Behave in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful and pretentious
Insist on having the best of everything — for instance, the best car or office
Become impatient or angry when they don't receive special treatment
Have significant interpersonal problems and easily feel slighted
React with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make themselves appear superior
Have difficulty regulating emotions and behavior
Experience major problems dealing with stress and adapting to change
Feel depressed and moody because they fall short of perfection
Have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, vulnerability and humiliation

Narcissistic personality disorder - Symptoms and causes

“Empath” is not a scientific term or recognized mental health condition or pathology. There are non-scientific groups or individuals who claim to have heightened or psychic abilities to feel other people’s emotions or read their minds, etc, but there is no scientific basis for such claims.

“Empathy”

/ˈempəTHē/

noun

noun: empathy

the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Most neurotypical humans have some empathetic ability. That is, some awareness and ability to put themselves in another person’s shoes and understand how that person might feel.

Codependency is not recognized as a disorder by the DSM-5, however it does share traits with Dependent Personality Disorder [1] such as having an excessive need for approval and validation from others, the need to always be in a relationship, the inability to make decisions for oneself or acknowledge ones own needs and feelings, and an overwhelming fear of being rejected or facing disapproval from others.

As you can see from the definitions of empathy and codependency, the person with those traits foremost in their personality will not behave much like a narcissist.

And, again, if you are not a psychological practitioner in a therapeutic relationship with the person in question, you should NOT be making a diagnosis of any kind. It is one thing to observe that a person is behaving in a certain way, it is quite another to place a label on that person.

A person may have narcissistic traits, he or she may be act in ways that are codependent, or she or he may either claim to be ‘An Empath’ or say “I have a lot of empathy/sympathy” but none of that is a diagnosis from a licensed professional.

Thanks!

Footnotes

[1]

Dependent Personality Disorder DSM-5 301.6 (F60.7)

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