The parent trap: Parental alienation & narcissism in relationship breakdown

In brief

• An increasing feature with separating couples these days is the charge that, typically the man, is a narcissist and the mother is alienating the kids from the father. Both serious and worrying situations, but is it always the reality?

Narcissism is simply described as ‘an excessive interest in or admiration of oneself and one’s physical appearances’. That is an easy claim to make against anyone, but the psychological personality disorder of narcissism is a lot more complex. The personality disorder often manifests itself with the person having a lack of empathy for other people and a condition which often manifests itself as arrogant, self-centred, manipulative and demanding. The person may well have grandiose fantasies. Such people with the condition tend to seek excessive admiration and attention but also have difficulty tolerating criticism or defeat. Many people in a relationship breakdown can portray some or all of these traits but this does