Quote:
I did a terrible job at offering caveats to what I was saying. I should have prefaced my post conceding that the failure of a particular therapy isn't necessarily the fault of the client. I freely acknowledge that there are good and bad fits/poor chemistry, and not all modalities are appropriate.
My only contention is with speaking in absolutes (i.e. "all therapy is bad because I had bad therapy"), and overlooking the responsibility of the client side in the therapy. Not saying that's all applicable here, but these are considerations.
|
I actually agree with you. Unfortunately I've had a heck of a bad run with therapists before. The one I have now though, is quite excellent.
Quote:
That all said, there are apparently several emerging therapies which have had significant success in NPD, so treatment modality and therapist ability are obviously important. Schema therapy is now being hailed as one of the most effective, but a few variations of psychotherapy have also helped lead the charge in this disorder most recently. Even things like specialized subclassifications of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness, and especially a form of Mindfulness called Loving-Kindness meditation are pushing around our old ideas about how stubborn this disorder is supposed to be.
So therapy can be effective, but that situation needs both someone who knows how to work with the disarming the NPD mechanisms and a completely receptive and open client.
|
Mindfulness has been ridiculously effective for me thus far. Schema therapy is something that my therapist has talked about doing with me. I have heard good things about the Schema model, and I've done a bit of reading about it and I do like it. It is quite different than other approaches, which is part of the appeal for me.
CBT is something I've had frankly rotten luck with, but I think it was more of a personality clash between myself and the therapists involved that tried it. Not because CBT is just bad therapy, it clearly works for a myriad of people otherwise it would not be so commonly used still.
Loving-Kindness meditation, I've never heard of that. Fascinating. I learn something new every day.
Personality disorders are seen as "stubborn" because they are referred to as "stable and enduring" in the DSM for a reason. Also, make no mistake about it, I have been referred to by others as one of if not the most stubborn person that they've ever known. Hahahahah. I think I have more of an open mind than many Narcissists, the others I've met(I've met a few) have all been basically incapable of laughing at themselves or finding any humor in their situation. Myself on the other hand, in the past couple of years especially I have learned to laugh at myself at times... because really, I have to say that some of my behavior is pretty comical looking back on it.
My therapist has a way of "getting through" to me that no therapist has been able to do before. She can disarm my "NPD mechanisms" as it were and we can have a solid and meaningful conversation without me going on the attack/getting defensive/etc. It's quite refreshing, and as I said unlike any therapeutic setting I've bee in thus far. I will keep going. It makes me of course very uncomfortable because like any Narcissist, being vulnerable to anyone is not my strong suit. But I do not want to end up like the two Narcissists that raised me: isolated, cut off by everyone in their lives because of their behavior. I can say the same about another older Narcissist I recently tangled with. If I stay on the path of being dysfunctional it will be a dead end. I do not wish to condemn myself to being "dead while still alive" as it were.
Your posts are fascinating and I like reading them, they give me some perspective which I need and have also come to enjoy if it is given to me in the correct way. You have a knack for doing that, not setting off my "narcissistic rage", people like that are hard to come by so I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.