Are there different levels or degrees of narcissism?

Answer 1

According to Sam Vaknin, a narcissist and self-proclaimed expert on all things narcissistic, there are two types, cerebral and somatic. The cerebral type believes himself mentally superior and the somatic type belives himself to be physically and sexually superior. These two classifications however, are not universally accepted.

Answer 2

I am not a therapist, but as far as I am concerned there is just one level and that is painful enough. They try to destroy your self esteem and do succeed. Isn't that enough? They are very shallow people and have no self esteem but they act like they do. (Sh*t don't stink syndrome) No matter what tactics they try, 1st to 10th degree level, it all boils down to the same. They are very sick people and do not know it, otherwise they would go for help. It is always everyone's fault but theirs. If you believe them and blame yourself they only have half the work to do and these are the people they are looking for. (codependents). They will suck you dry. They feed off of you. Whatever you had they now will have and you will become just a shell and wondering what happened to you! Stay clear of them if you can help it!

Answer 3

Absolutely. There are quite a few different types of narcissists (Narc or N). I'll list the definitions of each type.

Inverted- This is also known as the codependent which is quite often the victim of the narcissist so it's not exactly a narcissist but is listed as a type for some reason.

Conversational- This type was first introduced by Charles Derber and this type of narc always has to make sure the conversation is focused on them in order to feed their false ego.

Corporate- This is a narc who tends to be in a high profile position in powerful companies. Their focus is purely on profits and their focus is quite often narrowly focused on business/finance. I would also put politician narcs in this category.

General Narcissistic Personality Disorder- This is the most common type. They need constant attention and validation to try to heal their low self-esteem. They can not take any form of criticism, even constructive. They are extremely emotionally sensitive and get hurt easily, but have a very odd way of "getting over it" too quickly until they are comfortable. Reality is that they never get over anything that hurts them. They also will come and go in a persons life and when they come back they act as if though they never left.

Malignant- This is a very ugly version of a narc, not that any of them are nice. This is a combination of a narc and someone who has anti social personality disorder. These people usually show very high signs of paranoia.

Sexual- This is self explanatory. They think they are sex God's. Masters in bed. Sometimes they can be though, but often times they are mediocre at best, and just plain awful at worst. Needless to say a narc who has this trait will always be unfaithful and will usually have multiple partners on the side, often with both sexes.

Subversive- These are really horrible too because like the name suggests, they are not an "in your face" kind of narc so you won't necessarily see them until you are hooked. These are very insidious folks and are quiet often very charming, friendly, kind and even sweet in the beginning. That is until they get you hooked. Then their true personality comes out, usually a little slow at first to test the waters.

There can be all kinds of "wonderful" mixes of these traits in one narc. Narcissism tends to get solidified fairly early in childhood but sometimes does not become apparent until years later.