Unmasking Narcissism

Credit

Handouts

Faculty

Craig Malkin, PhD Related seminars and products

---

Craig Malkin, PhD, is a Harvard Medical School lecturer and clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of narcissism and echoism. His work has been widely featured, including in Time, The New York Times, NPR, and CBS. His internationally acclaimed book, Rethinking Narcissism, was twice named by the Oprah Winfrey Network as one of the most important books on narcissism. 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Craig Malkin has employment relationships with Harvard Medical School and YM Psychotherapy and Consultation Inc. He receives royalties as a published author. Craig Malkin has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Craig Malkin is an author and presenter for Psychotherapy Networker. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Massachusetts Psychological Association, and the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy.

Additional Info

Access never expires for this product.

Visit our FAQ page at www.pesi.com/faq or contact us at www.pesi.com/info

Objectives

1. Identify the core psychological mechanism underlying all forms of narcissism, demonstrating awareness of its implications in therapy. 
2. Distinguish among various forms of narcissism based on key behavioral, emotional and relational patterns. 
3. Select appropriate interventions to activate blocked or latent emotional capacity in narcissistic clients

Outline

Understanding the Inner World of Someone with Covert Narcissism

• Introduce covert narcissism as a defense against shame, not a lack of emotion.
• Highlight how emotional invisibility, longing, and fear contribute to an overreliance on self-enhancement as a survival strategy.
• Clarify how fear of rejection and unmet attachment needs shape defensive patterns in clients.

Reducing Anxiety to Soften Defenses

• Teach how to help clients track anxiety in their bodies to lower defensive rigidity.
• Use of “What would you feel if you weren’t anxious?” to promote deeper emotional access.
• Link physiological regulation (e.g., reduced tightness in chest) to increased openness and trust.
• Emphasize that somatic anxiety tracking is a prerequisite to accessing more vulnerable states.

From Content to Process: Deepening the Therapeutic Relationship

• Redirect focus from external complaints to the emotional experience in the room..
• Model attuned responses (e.g., “Your eyes look sad—I can see how much it hurt to hear that.”) to build attachment security.
• Use evocative prompts to invite clients to reflect on their experience of the therapist (e.g., “What do you feel from me as you tell me about this?”).
• Demonstrate how presence, attunement, and empathic witnessing help reduce grandiosity and underlying fear.

Creating Corrective Attachment Experiences

• Invite memory-based imagery to separate client identity from narcissistic defenses.
• Use imagined reparenting (e.g., “Can you see that six-year-old?”) to access disowned sadness, fear, or longing.
• Provide opportunities for clients to receive care and validation in real-time with the therapist.
• Help clients shift from proving worth through performance to allowing authentic connection.

Limitations of the Research and Potential Risks

• Lack of longitudinal data on covert narcissism treatment outcomes.
• Difficulty in engaging clients with extreme defenses or comorbid disorders.
• Risk of retraumatization if interventions (e.g., memory recall) are not carefully paced and attuned.
• Importance of therapist training in attachment-based and emotion-focused work to reduce countertransference enactments.
   

Target Audience

1. Counselors
2. Social Workers
3. Psychologists
4. Psychotherapists
5. Therapists
6. Marriage & Family Therapists
7. Addiction Counselors
8. Case Managers
9. Physicians
10. Nurses
11. Other Mental Health Professionals

Reviews