Heal NPD

This is the third part of a three-part exploration of narcissistic personality style at the neurotic level of personality organization. In this episode, Dr. Ettensohn examines the defensive architecture of neurotic-level narcissism, including the characteristic defenses that allow individuals to manage conflict, preserve relationships, and maintain self-esteem without resorting to the identity fra...

Dr. Mark Ettensohn examines the experience of emptiness in narcissistic personality disorder and other forms of personality pathology. Rather than approaching personality disorders as collections of traits or behaviors, the episode frames them as disturbances in identity. Dr. Ettensohn outlines how the sense of self is constructed through early relational experience and how disruptions in that pro...

This episode continues the Heal NPD Seminar Series with Dr. Mark Ettensohn, joined by his associates Deanna Young, Psy. D., and Danté Spencer, Ph. D. In this session, the group discusses the paper “Living with Pathological Narcissism: A Qualitative Study” (Day et al., 2020), which examines narcissistic personality pathology from the perspective of partners and family members. Unlike most research...

This episode continues the Heal NPD Seminar Series with Dr. Mark Ettensohn, joined by his associates Deanna Young, Psy. D., and Danté Spencer, Ph. D. In this session, the group examines the Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD), a dimensional framework introduced in Section III of the DSM-5 and retained in DSM-5-TR. The model was developed in response to longstanding limitations...

Dr. Mark Ettensohn examines a growing tendency in public discourse to treat narcissism as a moral category rather than as a psychological construct.   The episode explores why this shift occurs and how misunderstandings about the nature of mental illness contribute to it. While many people intuitively apply a medical model to psychological conditions, most forms of mental illness do not operate in...

Dr. Mark Ettensohn addresses a question that frequently arises in discussions of narcissism and abuse: Is it possible to maintain accountability without dehumanizing? Can someone preserve firm boundaries without abandoning empathy? Dr. Ettensohn clarifies a distinction he often sees misunderstood. When he speaks about compassion toward pathological narcissism or narcissistic personality disorder,...

This episode continues the Heal NPD Seminar Series with Dr. Mark Ettensohn, joined by his associates Deanna Young, Psy. D., and Danté Spencer, M.A. In this session, the group examines a recent empirical study titled Coercive Control and Intimate Partner Violence: Relationship with Personality Disorder Severity and Pathological Narcissism (2025). The discussion responds directly to common claims in...

In this episode, Dr. Mark Ettensohn examines a common defense of online “narcissistic abuse” content: the claim that, even if imperfect or inaccurate, it ultimately helps people leave harmful relationships. Rather than focusing on whether such content feels validating or empowering, Dr. Ettensohn explores the ethical and psychological implications of justifying misinformation, stigma, and moralize...

In this video, Dr. Ettensohn examines the online narc-abuse ecosystem and explores how content that initially feels validating and supportive can, over time, become thought-constraining and socially isolating for some viewers. Drawing on clinical experience and established research on high-demand systems, Dr. Ettensohn analyzes the rhetorical patterns commonly used across narc-abuse channels: the...

This video continues the Heal NPD Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Mark Ettensohn with his associates, Deanna Young, Psy. D., and Danté Spencer, M.A. In this session, the group discusses Empathy and Narcissistic Personality Disorder: From Clinical and Empirical Perspectives (2014), examining the long-standing assumption that narcissistic personality disorder is defined by a lack of empathy. Drawing o...

This episode continues the Heal NPD Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Mark Ettensohn and his associates, Deanna Young, Psy. D., and Danté Spencer, M.A. I n this session, the group discusses a recent meta-analytic review examining suicide-related outcomes in narcissistic personality functioning. The conversation explores why studies using DSM-based diagnoses of Narcissistic Personality Disorder consist...

In this episode, Dr. Mark Ettensohn responds to a common question: How can someone with a perfectly normal and mostly happy childhood develop narcissistic personality disorder? The discussion challenges the widespread misconception that narcissism is simply a personality type, a collection of traits, or the result of genetics alone. Dr. Ettensohn explains that pathological narcissism is a disorder...

This episode continues the Heal NPD Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Mark Ettensohn and his associates, Deanna Young, Psy. D., and Danté Spencer, M.A. In this session, the group discusses Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Progress in Understanding and Treatment by Igor Weinberg, Ph. D., and Elsa Ronningstam, Ph. D. The conversation examines recent advances in how clinicians conceptualize and treat n...

This episode continues the Heal NPD Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Mark Ettensohn and his associates, Deanna Young, Psy. D., and Danté Spencer, M.A. In this session, the group discusses Principles of Psychodynamic Treatment for Patients with Narcissistic Personality Disorder by Holly Crisp, M.D., and Glen Gabbard, M.D. The conversation explores how psychodynamic clinicians conceptualize and treat n...

In this episode, Dr. Mark Ettensohn challenges one of the most persistent distortions in contemporary discourse on narcissism: the myth of “the narcissist.” He explains how this cultural archetype, an image of coldness, cruelty, and manipulation, has eclipsed legitimate clinical understanding of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Drawing on both the peer-reviewed literature and his clinical experi...

This episode marks the beginning of a new educational series from Heal NPD, featuring Dr. Mark Ettensohn and his associates: Deanna Young, Psy. D. and Danté Spencer, MA. This series offers a rare window into clinical reasoning and supervision, bringing viewers inside real discussions about theory, diagnosis, and treatment of personality pathology. In this first seminar, the group examines an influ...

Dr. Ettensohn reflects on the recent loss of his father. Drawing on both clinical theory and personal experience, he explores how children internalize idealized images of caregivers as a source of safety and reassurance during times of vulnerability. This episode examines how these idealizations can provide stability but also carry developmental costs if they are never gradually tempered by ordina...

Dr. Ettensohn expands on his recent episode exploring splitting as a dissociative process. Drawing from clinical experience and developmental theory, he addresses a common question: What’s the difference between splitting, identity diffusion, and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)? Rather than viewing these as separate diagnostic constructs, Dr. Ettensohn presents them as points along a continuu...

In this episode, Dr. Ettensohn offers a groundbreaking perspective on one of the most misunderstood features of pathological narcissism: splitting. Drawing from the work of Philip Bromberg and his own clinical practice, Dr. Ettensohn reframes splitting not as black-and-white thinking, but as a dissociative process rooted in early relational trauma. Rather than treating splitting as a rigid symptom...

In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn explores subtle signs of false self experiencing. Drawing from clinical work and developmental theory, he reflects on how early relational demands can lead individuals to organize their identity around performance, compliance, or emotional suppression. The episode examines how precocious self-monitoring, idealized emotional states, and internalized expectation...

In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn addresses widespread misconceptions about narcissism by clarifying what the term does not mean. Drawing on clinical examples and years of engagement with public discourse, he explores how the label “narcissist” has become a cultural catch-all for behaviors that are often common, non-pathological, and only proximally related to Narcissistic Personality Disorder...

Join Dr. Mark Ettensohn from Heal NPD for a live broadcast answering questions and responding to viewer comments.

What does it mean to say that narcissists lack empathy? In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn challenges the common assumption that low empathy is a fixed trait in narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Drawing from psychoanalytic theory and clinical observation, he explores how empathy in NPD often collapses in response to internal threat, and how this collapse is due to defenses rather than in...

In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn examines the rise of moral panic within contemporary discourse about narcissism, particularly how popular online narratives have transformed psychological terms into tools of moral judgment. In this Weekly Insight, Dr. Ettensohn examines the rise of moral panic within contemporary discourse about narcissism, particularly how popular online narratives have tran...

Link to episode 1 in this series, on psychotic-level NPD: https://youtu.be/IoxUCbNUJUE Link to episode 2 in this series, on borderline-level NPD: https://youtu.be/Oz-C503q_9Y Link to part 1 of episode 3 in this series: https://youtu.be/vUsnambadIE This is the third episode of a four-episode series describing the narcissistic personality style across different levels of severity. Due to the length...