Influence of Betrayal Trauma on Pathological Narcissism

ABSTRACT

Research in the field of trauma has highlighted the influence of exposure to trauma with a high degree of betrayal on personality pathology. Studies have demonstrated that high betrayal trauma affects the severity of personality pathology over and above other forms of trauma. This research been confined primarily to the study of borderline personality disorder, although recent research suggests that the influence of high betrayal trauma may also influence other forms of personality pathology. One form of personality pathology that may be particularly amenable to examination in this regard is pathological narcissism. Clinical evidence has suggested the etiological influence of trauma on pathological narcissism, although there has been a little empirical study of the influence of trauma with different degrees of betrayal on narcissism. In this study, we investigate this by examining the influence of trauma with varying degrees of betrayal on grandiose and vulnerable dimensions of pathological narcissism in a sample of young adults using a Bayesian approach to structural equation modeling. Results indicate that exposure to trauma high in betrayal is the only predictor of both dimensions of pathological narcissism when controlling for other forms of trauma exposure. Implications for future research and clinical intervention are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Betrayal
• grandiosity
• narcissism
• trauma
• vulnerability

Disclosure of Interest

Both authors declare that they have no conflicts to report.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.