This lecture introduced cluster B personality disorders and the debate over categorical versus dimensional diagnostic approaches.
The speaker emphasized that while personality traits like narcissism are heritable, the emergence of pathological disorders is predominantly environmental (~95%), arising via two developmental pathways: (1) overvaluation/isolation (idolization, instrumentalization, parentification) leading to impaired reality testing, grandiosity, and entitlement; and (2) abuse/neglect (physical, sexual, emotional abuse or abandonment) leading to objectification, dissociation, and identity diffusion.
Both pathways disrupt boundary development and sense of self, producing individuals with an empty or performative identity whose dramatic, erratic behaviors aim to secure external validation (narcissistic supply). Becoming a Narcissist (Etiology EXCERPT Lecture in University of Applied Sciences, Elbląg, Poland)