When someone posts one too many selfies or flex pics on their dating profile or talks about themselves constantly during a first date, we might call them a narcissist. In reality, narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder characterized by a life-long pattern of exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive craving for admiration, and a diminished ability to empathize with others' feelings. NPD, like most mental health or personality disorders, isn't black and white, so spotting a narcissist isn't so easy, especially because they are usually quite charming. The most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists nine criteria for NPD, but it specifies that someone only needs to meet five of them to clinically qualify as a narcissist.
There are many narcissists that plague the dating pool these days and sometimes they are hard to spot right away since they are so good at gaslighting you into thinking you are the problem. We have teamed up with dating blog The Single Society to bring you the stories of the exact moment they were dating someone who was most likely a complete narcissist. Have you ever dated a narcissist? Tell us about it right here.
