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Narcissistic-perfectionist type (NP)
This individual has narcissistic qualities that are mediated by the behavioral complex of perfectionism. Thus, he has narcissistic ambition ("I will be glorious") but also perfectionistic qualities ("Do it well..."). This individual would be well motivated, but a perfectionist plodder. He would be slow. He would do it over and over again. He would chip away at something ever so slowly, so he will not go too fast, or too far all at once. He must be something of a loner. He must be somewhat subdued. He fills up his time with activities, doing, redoing, starting, not quite finishing, polishing, giving him a "workaholic" quality. His time may be filled with ambitious goals, but slow repetitive actions, so that he is always late for appointments. We propose that he may be one of the so-called obsessive-compulsive individuals of the psychiatric literature.
He has his eye on the limelight, to be sure, with a vision toward the future. But the self-flaunting aspect of the previously described narcissistic N personage is mediated by this individual's necessity to be perfect in all ways. Thus, the conceit of the narcissistic individual is moderated into persistent achievement in quiet modesty. In fact, this individual feels that he must do whatever his friends, family and society demand of him as a perfect person. He simply must try to do to the best of his ability what he feels he should do. And he feels that he should do everything. And do it perfectly. Thus, to his friends, to his family and to himself, he is a prisoner of his own sense of duty. He is a quiet achiever but at the same time a prisoner of perfection.
Although the behavioral complexes of narcissism and perfectionism appear to be acting in concert, it is apparent that the demands of modern society can lead to great conflicts in this character type. Narcissism gives him the vision of a glorious future and the possibility of the limelight, while perfectionism is the root of his excruciating, painstakingly slow progress. In addition, no human being can possibly accomplish in the time of twenty-four hours all that he expects of himself, not to mention all the demands that others place on him.
Lacking aggressive qualities, he is defenseless against aggressive types. He does not "play the game" of dominance and submission, does not split his personality to a subdued state, and cannot be induced into an aggressive-vindictive rage. He is usually not sexually aggressive in a predatory manner. Since his love relations cannot be based on a dominant-submissive relationship, he loves on the basis of his narcissistic and perfectionist qualities. In particular, he loves because he should love, and he is tender because he should be tender. In fact, he will do anything that a devoted mate should do, simply because his inner nature tells him, "I deserve it to myself and to everyone that I should do everything perfectly."
In essence, his attitude in its compulsive rigidity becomes equivalent to a "deal with life." If he pays attention to all the details of life, if everything is neatly in its place, if he has thought of everything in advance, then nothing should go wrong. And when things do go wrong, whether they are by any stretch of the imagination his fault or not, he blames himself for not having foreseen the difficulty. This may send him to the doldrums of a melancholic abject state for days or months, especially if the cause of the failure actually was some deficiency on his part.
He may be incited to the perfectionistic-narcissistic rage when frustrated by others. This begins as a few moments of inwardly directed seething, and then may break out into the narcissistic rage of defense and withdrawal.
Finally, we note that in the NP character structure we expect to find a quiet, unaggressive individual who should be content with perfecting the various aspects of his life with a minimum of conflict with others. However, in a poorly adjusted individual his inner voices may demand of him an incessant repetition of bizarre acts, so that he may attempt to satisfy some poorly-understood need for order or completeness in his life. If these acts come into conflict with the norms of his society, then he may become a compulsive gambler or bank robber, a kleptomanic collector, or even a demented ritualistic murderer. Hence, such an individual, although lacking the aggressive behavioral trait, could certainly be branded as "aggressive" by his society.
The risk of the NP type of succumbing to a psychosis of schizophrenia will be discussed in Chapter 11.