It is in this context that I’d like to share with you a project that recently came to my attention.

A couple of weeks ago, I came across a tweet. It was from an actor who was announcing that he had been given a small role in a new movie about Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Of course, this drew my interest as I always have an eye out for any new media that focuses on educating the public about the personality disorders and other conditions marked by reduced empathy.

So I looked into the project more and here are some of the details.

The film’s title is pretty straightforward. It’s Narcissist the Movie.

I like that title because anyone who sees the film will know right off the bat that this is not simply another film, like so many, about just any complex, challenging character, but rather one about someone who is explicitly identified as a narcissist. Hopefully this clarity will increase the likelihood that the viewer will actually remember the term “narcissist,” along with some facts about NPD, after watching it. Perhaps they will be motivated to do some additional research on NPD after seeing the film, as well. In fact, even those who never do watch the film may be intrigued enough to do some investigation based on hearing the title alone.

Narcissist the Movie is part of that new wave of films whose creators are seeking crowdfunding to help make their dream a reality. The fundraising for this one is being facilitated by the Narcissist the Movie Indiegogo page.

That page not only serves to help them raise the necessary money to produce the film (as of this writing they have already exceeded their goal of raising $6000), but also offers a wealth of information about it.

It’s evident from the video made to introduce the project to potential donors – featuring producer Steven Tylor O’Connor, producer, writer and director Eric Casaccio and lead actor Hunter Lee Hughes – that this is an endeavor about which the creators are passionate.

From what I’m able to gather, one of the filmmakers actually experienced the devastating end of a relationship with someone with NPD. Many who have been through a similar turn of events know how wrenching it can be and that, as one negotiates the agonizing withdrawal from the relationship – literally withdrawing the energy it was consuming back into oneself – the recovered energy often fuels a strong drive to educate others about one’s experience and the lessons it has yielded. This is especially true when those lessons include a sudden awareness that a specific empathy-reducing condition, such as Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder or psychopathy, was involved in the relationship and its breakdown.

However strong that drive to educate others is, though, it nonetheless takes a great deal of strength and courage to transform one’s pain into creativity and speak up to help others either avoid such a destructive relationship or more successfully heal from one.

In the fundraising video, Hughes says:

“In this upcoming film Narcissist, I play Evan, a man dealing with the fallout of a painful relationship with someone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. For those of you who have been in that position, you know that dealing with a narcissist is a difficult and painful experience.”

The three then explain in more detail just what that experience is actually like.

Casaccio says:

“The purpose of creating this story is to inspire others that have suffered the posttraumatic stress from this kind of relationship or connection.”

Now, I have no way of predicting the quality of the film. I don’t believe they have yet even begun the actual process of filming it. But there are a couple things I really like about what I have seen regarding this project

• It explicitly names the disorder

  There are so many films that display for an audience characters with certain dysfunctional behavior, but fail to explicitly name the condition from which they suffer. This raises the audience’s awareness, in a general sense, that dysfunctional individuals exist, but leaves them without enough specific information to understand in any depth how to recognize, investigate further or communicate with others about the source of any particular person’s troubling behavior. Narcissist the Movie will obviously not fall short on this count. Its viewers will unquestionably know that they are learning about NPD and be able to meaningfully internalize an understanding of it that they can apply in their lives.

  There may be documentaries that do name conditions explicitly. But dramatic fiction, involving relatable or compelling characters, can affect viewers on an emotional level in a way that direct information delivery alone cannot. This is why we desperately need more films like Narcissist the Movie that aim to both move viewers through story and precisely educate them by openly labeling deeply dysfunctional characters with proper diagnoses.

• It focuses on education regarding the complex dynamics experienced by victims of damaging relationships with narcissists

  Relationships with narcissists can be devastating in a multi-layered fashion.

  Not only is there pain associated with the events that occur within and during the breakup of the relationship itself. But, for many, there is another layer of pain generated by the confusion with which they are left once the relationship is over.

  Without an understanding of the pathological nature of the narcissist, these discarded ex-“loved ones” cannot make sense of why things happened as they did. Sensitive, conscientious souls that they often are, these victims search in vain for an explanation and, unable to find one, frequently blame themselves, even questioning their very self-worth.

  But the pain doesn’t stop even there. Often these victims are then tormented by yet another layer of pain related to the shame they feel about what they perceive as an overreaction. “After all,” he or she thinks, “people go through breakups every day and most of them don’t react in this dramatic a manner. So there must be something even more wrong with me than I thought to react like this.”

  There are two frameworks in which to understand the tremendously painful post-relationship experience of a narcissist’s victim:

  • Withdrawal from a relationship addiction
  • Posttraumatic stress

  When a victim realizes that one or both of these processes, rather than typical grieving, are playing out in them, it can be a profound epiphany. Suddenly their symptoms no longer seem like an overreaction and a layer of shame is lifted off of their already overburdened shoulders. As they begin to delve into their past to discover the sources of the addictive tendencies or vulnerabilities that made them easy prey for the narcissist, their self-blame is gradually replaced by compassion for their woundedness and the insight needed to begin healing.

  Thus, this is a case – as Lobaczewski said was true of many cases where people suffer at the hands of those who, unbeknownst to them, have empathy-reducing pathologies – where education itself can do wonders to promote recovery and growth.

  The filmmakers, on their fundraising page, use the term “posttraumatic stress” to describe the aftermath of intimacy with a narcissist. I count this usage of such accurate and appropriate language as an encouraging indication that, with at least one of them having gone through this process himself and the others becoming sensitive to it, they possess the type of insight necessary to make a film that can truly help others avoid or survive and thrive in the wake of such a situation.

So while I don’t know how the film will turn out, it seems to have the potential to be one that can make a real difference for some people. Perhaps, having seen it, viewers will more quickly recognize a narcissist and maintain strong boundaries. Or maybe they will realize they are already in a doomed relationship with a narcissist and begin to find a way out. Or maybe they will gain a new perspective on a breakup with a narcissist that took place last week or last year or ten years ago and some ragged wounds will be mended through newfound understanding.

Usually, when I write about a film, if you are interested, the best option available to you is to go watch it. But in the case of Narcissist the Movie, at least if you’re reading this around the time of its posting, you can actually help contribute to its making – and you can get some nice perks for doing so, as well, depending on how much you contribute.

If you want to learn more about Narcissist the Movie, check out:

• Its Indiegogo page
• Its main Website
• Its Facebook page
• It’s Twitter page

Here is the trailer for the film (Added October 16, 2013)

But, the spate of high-profile examples of white collar corruption in recent years, from the collapse of Lehman Brothers to the Bernie Madoff multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme, has thrust questions about corporate psychopathy to the forefront.

Increasingly, people are recognizing the exponentially greater damage that can be done when “snakes in suits” exert their influence over powerful institutions as compared to when lone individuals commit gruesome, but isolated, acts. In the latter case, several people and families may be tragically affected. In the former, entire economies affecting millions, if not billions of people can be put at risk.

In the wake of this increased awareness, the Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice features a two part review by Angela Dawn Pardue, MS and Matthew B. Robinson, Ph.D. of Appalachian State University and Bruce A. Arrigo, Ph.D. of University of North Carolina entitled “Psychopathy and Corporate Crime: A Preliminary Examination.”

A look at the review’s two parts:

Psychopathy and Corporate Crime: A Preliminary Examination,
Part 1

In this part, the authors:

• “Introduce and discuss the concepts of corporate crime and psychopathy”
• “Examine the leading theories of corporate crime within the discipline of criminology”
• Explain why existing models of corporate crime, which lack sufficient focus on psychopathy, fail to provide adequate understanding.

Psychopathy and Corporate Crime: A Preliminary Examination,
Part 2

In this part, the authors:

• More thoroughly cover psychopathy and its signs and symptoms
• Explain how those signs and symptoms were manifest in many recent cases of corporate crime in a variety of industries
• Advocate that criminology focus more on psychopathy as an important aspect when explaining corporate crime

The review not only calls to mind Snakes in Suits by Robert Hare and Paul Babiak, but also The Corporation, a film in which Hare himself is featured. Since modern corporations, at least in the United States, are afforded “corporate personhood,” the filmmakers asked what kind of person a corporation is. They run down the characteristics of a psychopath, showing how each is displayed in the operations and behavior of today’s corporations.

Because corporations have such enormous power in our world today, it is crucial that public awareness continue to be fostered about the catastrophes that can ensue when pathological people ascend corporate hierarchies. Kudos to the authors of “Psychopathy and Corporate Crime: A Preliminary Examination” and to the Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice for taking on this critical subject, so deeply relevant to ponerology.

And kudos, as well, for reminding us that there is a field – criminology – tasked with investigating why not only shootings and robberies, but also larger-scale economic and political crimes, take place and that, in order to thoroughly do so, criminologists must never ignore the potential role of pathologies like psychopathy and certain personality disorders.

In Political Ponerology, Andrew M. Lobaczewski details an entire process, which he calls ponerogenesis, by which “evil” emerges in human systems. While it’s true, in his model, that various kinds of psychopaths play a central role in that process, he also elucidates how others, including those with what he calls characteropathies – which we would refer to as personality disorders – are essential for it to play out to its destructive potential.

Most commonly, when it comes to this process, those with the Cluster B personality disorders, especially Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder, all of which profoundly impact the capacity for empathy, would be expected to be involved to some extent.

But as disproportionate an impact as people with these disorders can have on their surroundings, they still make up too small a proportion of the population by themselves to bring about a system dominated by the pathological. Thus, Lobaczewski details how a certain percentage of non-pathological people must also be coopted to participate in ponerogenesis if such a system, which he calls a pathocracy, is ever to come about.

Every now and then, however, we are reminded that there are still other conditions – beyond psychopathy and the personality disorders – that can play a role in unnecessary harmful events.

Schizophrenia, for instance, was likely involved in motivating Jared Loughner to open fire at a 2011 constituent event for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, killing six and injuring thirteen, including the congresswoman. A review of research published in 2009 found that “a man with schizophrenia was four to five times as likely to commit a violent act as a man in the general population.” The risks are especially high when a schizophrenic is also abusing substances.

A more recent news event brought to the forefront a less commonly discussed disorder that can also be associated with harmful activity.

Raulie Casteel is accused of shooting at people and motorists, apparently randomly, in metropolitan Detroit and nearby areas over the course of several days in October 2012. Communities in the vicinity remained in a constant state of anxiety and fear until the suspect was finally captured. He is now awaiting arraignment.

Last week, it was reported that Casteel has been diagnosed not with psychopathy or a personality disorder or even schizophrenia. Rather, he has been diagnosed with delusional disorder. A psychology professor quoted in the article explains that someone with this disorder would seem completely normal unless the subject about which they are deluded arises. That would seem to make them potentially difficult for those in their lives to detect as possibly dangerous.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Casteel’s diagnosis is confirmed as being accurate or if he is found guilty. But regardless, delusional disorder is an existing condition. And it is easy to see how someone suffering from it could, while under sway of certain delusions, do things that cause significant harm.

It’s just another reminder that ponerology is not all about psychopathy. In fact, it isn’t even just about mental illness, as people without mental illness can also be drawn to do things we might consider “evil.” But, even when it does focus on mental illness, ponerology must take into account a range of conditions and disorders.

However, in the many years I’ve spent considering and researching BPD, I have come across two therapeutic approaches that seem to offer a glimmer of hope.

• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
• Schema Therapy

Well, now one professor is using the latter method, Schema Therapy, to treat some of the only clients considered even more complex and resistant than those with BPD – psychopaths.

The common wisdom, for some time, has been that psychopaths are virtually untreatable. The general recommendation that I’ve encountered from experts such as Robert Hare is that it is best to simply use very pragmatic appeals to self-interest to try to convince psychopaths to inhibit their destructive behaviors rather than even put forth a futile attempt to fundamentally change their condition.

But Dr. David P. Bernstein, Professor of Forensic Psychotherapy at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, is challenging this dogma.

Bernstein has an interesting background in that he has deep experience in both the use of Schema Therapy and the field of personality disorders and has devoted himself to investigating how the former can be helpfully applied with those who exhibit the latter. So you could hardly find a better person to carry out the research that he has been doing.

In 2007, Bernstein and his colleagues began a very careful, large scale, randomized clinical trial of the efficacy of Schema Therapy with psychopaths institutionalized in numerous forensic hospitals in the Netherlands. The trial randomly assigned psychopaths to a group receiving three years of Schema Therapy or a group receiving three years of the typical treatment offered in their institutional setting and compares outcomes on various measures, including during a three year follow-up period after the therapy sessions end. Bernstein says it is the largest study of any kind to date investigating whether psychopaths can actually be treated with psychotherapy.

Bernstein and his work came to my attention when I was directed to an announcement of a lecture he was giving entitled “Reparenting a Psychopath: Is it Possible, and Does it Matter?” in which he planned to make the case that at least some psychopathic patients could “benefit from reparenting, showing emotional breakthroughs that were not believed possible” when engaged in the kind of emotional bond formed with a trained therapist during Schema Therapy.

The Facebook page announcing the event had some postings linking to other relevant resources about Bernstein’s work.

These included a link to the first of a series of videos (embedded below) showing Dr. Bernstein being interviewed by Dr. George Lockwood, who is on the executive board of the International Society of Schema Therapy (ISST), shortly before Bernstein’s scheduled keynote address (with the same title and topic as his more recent lecture) at the 5^th ISST World Conference in 2012. In the interview, Bernstein gives a preview of that talk, including discussion of:

• His work with forensic patients, especially those with Cluster B personality disorders, and including some previously thought to be untreatable such as psychopaths
• His experience that psychopaths, under certain conditions and contrary to conventional wisdom, can actually experience some emotional states such as vulnerability that, over time, can enable the formation of a therapeutic attachment
• How psychopaths’ crimes often stem from a situation in which their vulnerable side has been triggered and violence was used to cope with that
• Specific techniques for connecting with psychopaths’ vulnerable sides, triggering moral emotions in them
• How using Schema Therapy to treat psychopaths compares with using it to treat those with Borderline Personality Disorder
• The central role of the “mistrust/abuse schema” in psychopaths
• The early findings on various measures with the first thirty patients studied in the clinical trial
• How the cost savings of such treatment can ultimately result in the treatment paying for itself
• Why the largest benefits are seen in the most psychopathic patients
• How Schema Therapy can even help explain and address psychopaths’ lack of motivation in treatment

Part 1:

And here is the keynote address itself from the 5^th ISST World Conference in New York:

I was also able to find this overview of a talk David Bernstein gave entitled “Schema Therapy for Psychopathic and Other Forensic Patients with Personality Disorders” which may be of interest.

It is important to note that, at least at the time of Bernstein’s keynote address, the results of the clinical trial were not yet statistically significant because the study needs to be continued with a larger sample size. But, he explains that the initial results are quite promising.

Regardless of the outcome, however, Bernstein’s work and this clinical trial are inspiring because they represent just the type of serious focus on investigating psychopathy that we, as a society and a global system, desperately need.

Bernstein says that this trial is the first time that these Dutch forensic clinics have banded together for any multi-centered clinical trial. He has received support from the Dutch Ministry of Justice through its Expertise Center for Forensic Psychiatry (EFP) and even the Dutch Parliament has become aware of his work. It has become, as he says, a national focus.

Imagine if rigorous studies of how to best manage psychopathy became a national focus in other countries around the world. Catalyzing progress toward that goal could be one of the most important benefits of the further establishment and recognition of ponerology.