Borderline or Covert Narcissist? (7th Intl. Conference on Psychiatry & Psychological Disorders)
Channel: Prof. Sam Vaknin
Date: 2021-11-22

How to tell the difference (differential diagnosis) between someone with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and a covert Narcissist?

High-functioning Borderlines succeed to regulate their emotions and moods for certain periods of time, giving the impression that they are actually grandiose covert narcissists (Borderlines are as grandiose as narcissists and psychopaths).

Here is how to tell the difference:

Covert (fragile, shy, vulnerable) narcissists never experience suicidal ideation or attempt suicide. They externalize aggression and are typically negativistic (passive-aggressive);

Covert narcissists do not experience separation insecurity (abandonment anxiety) and they maintain object constancy;

Covert narcissists are not clinging or needy;

Covert narcissists are self-efficacious, most borderlines are self-defeating;

Borderlines are self-critical. Akin to neurotics, they have autoplastic defenses and dichotomous thinking (splitting). Covert narcissists have alloplastic defenses;

Borderlines are highly emotive and dysregulated. They are overwhelmed by their emotions. Covert narcissists display only negative affectivity and often have reduced affect display.

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