Blog Post 2: Does Mariah Carey have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

"Look at this. Is this all the red carpet I get?" Mariah said upon descending from her "own personal private Learjet" in Dublin, Ohio. "That's not standard!", she added. This incident got people talking about how much of a diva she is and that she is full of herself. It is a very known fact that Mariah can be a little cocky sometimes. What people don't know is that she only does those things to make humor out of it. Yes, acting like a self-conceited, ego filled diva has been a huge a part of Mariah's image but does that necessarily mean that she is a narcissistic person?

Before that, we need to be aware of what narcissism is. And this article "Narcissistic Personality Order" by Kendra Cherry from psychology.about.com explains it to us in detail. First of all, what is a narcissistic personality disorder? It is a pervasive disorder characterized by self-centeredness, lack of empathy, and an exaggerated sense of self-importance. It negatively impacts many different life areas including social, family, and work relationships.

Narcissistic personality order is the least common one among the other personality disorders. It is said to affect 1% of the whole population of adults in the United States and is more common in men. It's symptoms are an exaggerated sense of one's own abilities and achievements, a constant need for attention, affirmation and praise, a belief that he or she is unique or "special" and should only associate with other people of the same status, persistent fantasies about attaining success and power, exploiting other people for personal gain, a sense of entitlement and expectation of special treatment, a preoccupation with power or success, feeling envious of others, or believing that others are envious of him or her, and a lack of empathy for others. The cause of this personality disorder is yet unclear but some factors may have contributed to it like childhood experiences such as over indulgence of the parents, unreliable parenting, excessive praise and lack of realistic responses.

"It is important to distinguish between those who have narcissistic personality traits and those suffering from narcissistic personality disorder. Those with narcissistic personalities are often seen as arrogant, confident, and self-centered, but they do not have the exaggerated or grandiose view of their own abilities that characterizes narcissistic personality disorder." as Kendra Cherry said.

It is hard to tell if Mariah Carey really has a narcissistic personality disorder or does she only have narcissistic personality traits. One thing's for sure though, her childhood might have led her to become this way. As a child of divorce, Mariah had an unreliable support from her father. Her mother, on the other hand, trained and raised her for the intent of super-stardom. Even her name "Mariah" was inspired by a musical play and was purposely made a stage name. An idea was formed in her brain that she must become better than everybody else and she did, later on. With her life-long dream accomplished, it is no mystery why she acts like how she does today.

In my quest to find out the answer to that question, I read the article "18 Signs You're Dealing With A Narcissist" by Amanda L. Chan from huffingtonpost.com. It says that it is possible to have some of the traits a narcissist has without having a clinically diagnosed narcissistic personality disorder. There is a specific range in narcissism. Most people are in the middle and some with extreme cases, go overboard. So, how do we know if we're dealing with a narcissist? We may do so by observing the following signs:

1. They leave a good first impression - that doesn't really last.
2. Some Narcissists are outgoing, some are quiet and shy.
3. They take the role of a leader.
4. Eventually, every conversation is about them.
5. Guilty of name-dropping.
6. They tell stories about their failures but they have a way of pointing out that it wasn't their fault.
7. Materialistic.
8. Appearance is everything to them.
9. They don't post bad pictures on social media.
10. They are strongly averse to criticism.
11. Excuses are a narcissist's best friend.
12. They leave a trail of wreckage behind them.
13. They may be more likely to cheat.
14. They take everything personal.
15. A narcissistic person probably has no idea he or she is a narcissist. 
16. You find yourself resorting to flattery just to maintain the peace with a narcissist.
17. Narcissists are not low in self-esteem.
18. Men are more likely to be narcissists than women.

"But sometimes the signs of narcissism are a little more nuanced. They're not always as obvious as media depictions would have you believe. And yes, it's possible to have some traits of narcissism without having full-blown, clinically diagnosed narcissistic personality disorder, which is when narcissism starts to have a serious, negative impact on everyday life and relationships." said Amanda.

I was able to associate some of these signs with Mariah's personality. She is more of the loud and proud type since she never fails to include her accomplishments into every interview she's done. She also mentions big names (if not as big as hers) and her relationship with those people. So, that's 2, 4 and 5 there. As for number 6, there was this one time when a different version of her song was uploaded and she pointed out that it was her staff's fault in which the only job they had to do was press Enter. And of course, number 7. As a celebrity, she wears designer clothes in order to increase her status. Earlier in her career, Mariah caused a commotion for only letting people take pictures of her in a certain angle. This shows that she is very aware of her looks since it might affect her reputation. As to being in the industry long enough, she encountered a lot of criticism from all sorts of people, even ones who are in the same field as her. She reacted strongly about those criticisms but never showed it in a unprofessional way. She simply throws shade every once in a while and often acts like she cares less about what people say. Although Mariah is an expert in dodging questions, she has a way of only getting involved with the things she wants to wherein she can boast about her success, etc. As it is very obvious, Mariah has a huge self-esteem. She has confidence in herself in just about everything she does. Finally, that's 8, 9, 10 and 17.

All in all, Mariah got 9 out of 18. Even-though she is energetic and confident, as described above, she tends to hide them by showing that she doesn't care or she puts it out in humor. With this, Mariah Carey appears less cocksure and narcissistic than she actually is. I think this answers the question, "Does Mariah Carey have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder?" No, she doesn't. She only has a narcissistic personality which is not an extreme case and shouldn't really be taken seriously.