Pathological narcissism is a fortress built against unbearable pain. Some fortresses are sculpted from glass, some hewn from granite. My six-tier spectrum elucidates these architectures.

Pathological narcissism can take countless shapes depending on the relative strengths of all the stabilizing and destabilizing factors: My previous article in this sequence lists these factors. I will reference it frequently in this one.

My chosen metaphor is that of a fortress, which represents the protective purpose of the false self. Other metaphors that I considered were that of hermit crabs who find shells of different materials (some smooth, some spiky) to protect themselves, or that of a diving suit that is vital for a diver underwater but needlessly restricts them on land. I’ve chosen the crab for the illustrations because cute.

A single person with narcissistic personality disorder – I’ll call them a castellan – usually finds themselves somewhere on this spectrum [...]

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