You’ve got a friend who you like very much, but also can make you quite anxious and unhappy. It feels to you that you can never make this person quite satisfied enough. Let’s say you offer to meet her at a certain time, and you’re a couple of minutes late. Within that short time frame, you receive a demanding text asking where you are, and when you’re going to arrive. Although you’re usually a punctual person, on this occasion, you were delayed due to circumstances completely outside of your control. Now that you’re there, you feel a nagging sense of having done something wrong.

There are three popular explanations for the clear under-representation of women in management, namely: (1) they are not capable; (2) they are not interested; (3) they are both interested and capable but unable to break the glass-ceiling: an invisible career barrier, based on prejudiced stereotypes, that prevents women from accessing the ranks of power. Conservatives and chauvinists tend to endorse the first; liberals and feminists prefer the third; and those somewhere in the middle are usually drawn to the second. But what if they all missed the big picture?

Narcissism and self-esteem have very different developmental pathways and outcomes. Narcissism is associated with the need to dominate others and the need to achieve superior resources. In contrast, high self-esteem is much more associated with the desire to establish deep, intimate relationships with others.

I am often asked “What type of parenting leads children to grow up with a Narcissistic Personality Disorder?” Or “Are the children of Narcissistic parents at risk of becoming Narcissists themselves?” I thought that I would use today’s post to shed some light on this issue. How Does Someone “Get” a Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

Cut-throat atmosphere in world-class labs and conferences closer to House of Cards than Big Bang Theory, says Swiss academic. By Hannah Devlin.

It’s better to be interested than interesting. By The Last Psychiatrist.

MY teenage son recently informed me that there is an Internet quiz to test oneself for narcissism. His friend had just taken it. “How did it turn out?” I asked. “He says he did great!” my son responded. “He got the maximum score!” When I was a child, no one outside the mental health profession talked about narcissism; people were more concerned with inadequate self-esteem, which at the time was believed to lurk behind nearly every difficulty.