While only a qualified mental health professional can diagnose someone with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), when it comes to determining whether you or someone you know is a narcissist, many people make it more complicated than it needs to be.

There are no blood tests, x-rays, or precise scientific methods that can determine if you or someone you know has narcissistic personality disorder. It is possible to tell if someone is a narcissist by looking for signs in their behaviors, attitudes, and reactions to them. Others.

Related: 3 Dead Giveaways Of How Narcissists Act In Romantic Relationships

8 Signs that you are a narcissist

1. Possessing a deep need for perfection and control
   Narcissists have an extremely strong need for everything to be perfect. They believe that they must be perfect, that you must be perfect, and that events must happen exactly as expected.

The narcissist sets himself up for dissatisfaction because of his demand for perfection.

2. Feeling superior
   The narcissist’s world is one of good/bad, superior/inferior, and right/wrong – and in this world, the narcissist feels superior.

Narcissists must be the best, healthiest, most competent. This combined with the demand for perfection can create a situation where everything has to be done their way.

3. Not taking responsibility and blaming and misrepresenting others instead
   Although narcissists want to be in control, they avoid responsibility for outcomes – unless things go their way. If things don’t go according to their plan or they feel criticized or less than perfect, the narcissist will shift the blame externally.

Sometimes this blame is generalized (e.g., all law enforcement), while other times blame is placed on a specific person who is believed to be limiting his ability to do what he wants to do, when and how he wants to do it.

Related: I Mistook My Covert Narcissist Husband For A Simple, Easygoing Man — The Crucial Sign I Missed

4. Lack of empathy
   Narcissists have difficulties empathizing with others. They may also support an understanding of the nature of emotions. A narcissist tends to be selfish and introverted, and is usually unable to understand what others feel.

Narcissists expect others to think and feel the same way they do, and they rarely consider other people’s feelings. They also rarely apologize, regret, or accept guilt.

5. Insisting that everything should be about themselves
   Have you ever tried to be friends with or date someone who cares about themselves and only listens to themselves? They change the subject, become defensive, or become angry when others talk about their difficulties.

Narcissistic functioning, at its core, is the result of a lack of listening. Think of it as one-sided listening where the other person rejects what is being said and may become irritable if other viewpoints differ from their own.

Narcissists also make most of their decisions based on how they feel about something. They simply have to have a new sports car because they want to, without considering the impact the choice might have on the family budget.

If they feel bored or depressed, they look for external things to change, such as ending or starting a new relationship, moving across the country, changing their career, or starting a new business. They always look to something or someone outside themselves to solve their feelings and needs. This comes with the expectation that you should support their desires and choices, and they will react with anger and resentment if you don’t.

6. Feeling an endless need for attention
   Narcissists crave attention. No matter how much you tell narcissists that you love them, admire them, or approve of them, it’s never enough – because deep down they don’t believe anyone could love them.

They are actually insecure and afraid of not measuring up. Their constant need for praise and approval from others is an attempt to shore up their fragile ego.

7. Lack of ability to be truly vulnerable
   Because of their lack of understanding of emotions, their lack of empathy, and their constant need to protect themselves, narcissists have difficulty loving or connecting emotionally with others. They cannot look at the world from everyone else’s perspective, so they find it almost impossible to open up to others.

When one relationship is not satisfactory, they often break relationships or start a new relationship as soon as possible.

8. Take criticism personally
   Trying to reason or use logic with a narcissist in the hope that he or she will understand how his or her behaviors affect others is a challenge that few can endure. A narcissistic personality may say they understand how their behavior has hurt someone, and there will be change in the future, but while narcissists may say they understand feelings, they are frankly struggling with it.

As mentioned earlier, narcissistic listening rejects, denies, ignores, and belittles the concerns and comments of others. This is especially true when the narcissist is criticized.

Then they will have a tendency to blame others when something goes wrong. It is safer to blame others and find fault with them than to seek discovery, learning, and growth on their part in difficulties. Personal growth means that they are not perfect, and this is something that is difficult for a narcissistic personality to accept.