title: Shame in patients with narcissistic personality disorder.
abstract: Shame has been described as a central emotion in narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). However, there is a dearth of empirical data on shame in NPD. Patients with NPD (N=28), non-clinical controls (N=34) and individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD, N=31) completed self-report measures of state shame, shame-proneness, and guilt-proneness. Furthermore, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) was included as a measure of implicit shame, assessing implicit shame-self associations relative to anxiety-self associations. Participants with NPD reported higher levels of explicit shame than non-clinical controls, but lower levels than patients with BPD. Levels of guilt-proneness did not differ among the three study groups. The implicit shame-self associations (relative to anxiety-self associations) were significantly stronger among patients with NPD compared to nonclinical controls and BPD patients. Our findings indicate that shame is a prominent feature of NPD. Implications for diagnosis and treatment are discussed.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany; Department of Educational Science and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: kathrin.ritter@fu-berlin.de.
authors: Kathrin
authors: K
authors: Ritter
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany; Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotion", Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Institute of Psychology, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany.
authors: Aline
authors: A
authors: Vater
authors: Department of Psychiatry II, Ulm University, Germany.
authors: Nicolas
authors: N
authors: Rüsch
authors: Institute of Psychology, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany.
authors: Michela
authors: M
authors: Schröder-Abé
authors: Department of Psychology, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, Germany.
authors: Astrid
authors: A
authors: Schütz
authors: Institute of Psychology, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Fydrich
authors: Asklepios Clinic North - Ochsenzoll, Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Claas-Hinrich
authors: CH
authors: Lammers
authors: Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotion", Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: stefan.roepke@charite.de.
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Roepke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001244:Association; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D057566:Self Report; D012752:Shame; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Borderline personality disorder; Guilt; Implicit association test; Narcissistic personality disorder; Shame; Shame-proneness