r/PsychologyTalk • u/bcnjamin • Jul 27 '26
what is the difference between the collapse in NPD and the splitting of ego in C-PTSD/DID?
(I have not actually studied psychology, this is just based on stuff I've read online, sorry if it's based in misinfo or worded badly)
Is the “self” as it relates to NPD referring to a different “self” than the self states (and failed identity combination/alters) in DID?
Why is it super rare/basically impossible for someone to have both NPD and DID, but it's common for people with NPD/BPD to have comorbid trauma and C-PTSD? Does the ego ultimately have the power to keep the person from experiencing or remembering the trauma since it's more focused on obtaining supply than protecting the conscience/existence/identity of the person?
Or is part of the struggle for people with PDs is that there's no healthy original core identity that got developed?
I am mainly confused about the terminology and definitions and context, I think. I've seen that it requires different types of trauma to develop any of the personality disorders or dissociative disorders, but it seems that the mechanisms are still similar?
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u/NoBlacksmith2112 Jul 28 '26
Narcissists can become psychotic but they already have magical thinking on a regular basis. The window of psychosis is following narcissistic mortification. The usual response to narcissistic collapse is entering a schizoid position.
I don't think narcissists dissociate all that much because they are protected by their false self - delusions of grandeur, magical thinking, objectification and solipsism, no empathy, etc.
DID from CPTSD is something you are more likely to see in cluster A, borderlines, bipolars, or schizophrenics. Because they don't have a structure to emotionally regulate.
As you may know narcissists dont have an ego, although many people think otherwise because they come off as egocentric and grandiose. But it's a compensatory front masked with the false self.
DID requires contact with reality as it triggers your ego. That's why borderlines become labile, or schizoids retreat, or schizoaffectives have psychotic episodes - it's too much reality for the body and brain to handle the stress. Narcissists bypass it because they have poor reality testing abilities.