The most compelling, and most dubious (despite its pages and pages of references) website I have found on narcissism is this one of A.M. Benis’ . Sam Vaknin’s is longer and extremely informative, but it is not as strange. Benis (I really can’t get over that name) puts forth the idea of narcissism, perfectionism, and aggression (originally Horney’s personality triad) as inherited traits that are genetically traceable.

It sounds completely weird, like phrenology or the worst kind of bio-determinism. Vaknin, in a message board post politely debating Benis’ theory, points out that

Exogenic and Endogenic pathogenesis is inseparable. Mental states increase or decrease the susceptibility to externally induced disease. Talk therapy or abuse (external events) alter the biochemical balance of the brain.

The inside constantly interacts with the outside and is so intertwined with it that all distinctions between them are artificial and misleading.

I couldn’t agree more, but that doesn’t make Benis’ theory any less seductive, especially when I looked up his glossary of narcissism (which sounds to me like it would make a kickass chapbook title).

Some of the definitions which I instantly, discomfitedly (is that a word?), recognized as belonging to your (or at any rate my) favorite navelgazer, in otherwords me, myself and I (sideways kudos to de la soul!) are:

     >>adornment….. One of the behavioral characteristics of the unbridled trait of narcissism.  Other characteristics of this trait include expansiveness, exhibitionism, the desire for recognition in a sexual context, and the desire to stand in honor, with one’s arms extended, above admiring others.  There is an instinctual urge for the individual to adorn himself in finery… According to this view, much of art is an extension of personal adornment, hence is an instinctual urge rooted in the narcissistic trait.

       >>chimpanzee….. Omnivorous African anthropoid ape.  Chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans exhibit narcissistic posturing and the gingival smile of recognition.  The trait of narcissism is not a uniquely human character, rather it is rooted in an ancestral gene that evolved millions of years ago.

  >>gingival smile….. An instinctual smile revealing the gums of the upper jaw.  Seen frequently in N and NP individuals.  Absent in individuals lacking the N trait.

          >>laughter….. A complex behavioral response… The initial and final stages of laughter may mimic the narcissistic smile of recognition.

          >>limelight….. The reward of fulfilled narcissistic ambition is, literally or figuratively, honor and applause in the spotlight of recognition.

         >>narcissistic arms gesture….. A gesture of recognition in which the arms are extended to the front or sides, with the fingers slightly spread apart.  This gesture, like the gingival smile, is instinctual and has its genetic basis in the trait of narcissism.

more on gesture from a different page of the same website:

Gestures:  Deep bow, accompanied by sweeping arm.  “Joan of Arc pose”, in which the individual’s eyes are directed toward the heavens when accepting recognition in the limelight.  “Narcissistic arms gesture”, in which the arms are extended to the front or sides, with the palms up and the fingers somewhat spread apart.  It is a pose often assumed by singers and by religious leaders.

  >>rage….. A mass discharge of a portion of the autonomic (sympathetic – parasympathetic) nervous system.  Subjectively, it is perceived as a type of anger.  The N and A traits allow the release of inhibition of two different types of mass discharges, allowing the occurrence of narcissistic and aggressive rages, respectively.

I find these eerily precise in describing certain aspects of my behavior that others have often commented on, much more so than the standard DSM IV stuff, which I will address after I put another coat of “California Poppy” colored paint on the bookcase I found in the basement.

Food for thought: Does the propensity for adornment (see the early archives of this bloggue) make all the citizens of India narcissistic? Are all singers and performers victims of pathological personality disorders??? (I’m thinking of the gesture stuff here.) Hmmm.