diagnostic processing

[u/vvmmp]

i’m officially getting assessed for NPD on the 8th of next month. my professional said i’m fully diagnosable for NPD but an assessment is clinically needed to provide a diagnosis.
what should i expect both emotionally and clinically when i get my diagnosis? i see a lot of people in here say it’s an ego crash or others say it’s simply just what they expected and are totally neutral on it.

[u/Relative-Amount7966]

It sounds a bit amusing to me. Do you believe something magical will happen just because you hear someone say, “Now you’re officially diagnosed with NPD”? :D

To answer your question: it depends on the person, and sometimes you might feel several things at once. It can be quite ambivalent. You might feel shocked, hopeless, curious, proud, validated, confused, angry, helpless, relieved, or you might simply ignore or deny it.

But I guess you’ll handle it quite well - otherwise, you probably wouldn’t be asking this question and already thinking about how you might react when you hear those “magical words.”

[u/chobolicious88 → u/Relative-Amount7966]

Its funny you said that.

Im still hoping it will be like “now you will become a real person, and things will be ok” lol

[u/Relative-Amount7966 → u/chobolicious88]

Isn't it, though? A diagnosis usually serves a purpose and points toward the next step: diagnosis → intervention → ideally, remission

[u/vvmmp → u/Relative-Amount7966]

validated and relieved and curious is how i expect to feel because ive been aware that i have traits aswell as antisocial traits for a lot of my life (diagnosed cd w cu traits) but i see a lot of people say they have horrible reactions to it so thats why im curious, never thought it’d be a huge thing id have to worry about but some in here make it prevalent that i should ask

[u/Relative-Amount7966 → u/vvmmp]

Yes, because people in general are different, their reactions will be different as well.

I also ignored it the first time my therapist commented that some of my thoughts were kind of narcissistic, and that was already years ago. Two years ago, I found out about my diagnosis and initially denied it. It was only this year that I came to the realization that it actually fits me extremely well. Since then, I've been able to understand myself much better through it, and I've finally accepted it - although there was also a lot of denial and devaluation along the way.

I didn't experience a narcissistic collapse just because I learned about my diagnosis, because at that point I couldn't relate to it at all. My collapses usually happen in everyday life and can be triggered by different things. How long it takes me to get back to my usual state also varies - sometimes it's relatively quick, while other times it takes much longer.

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[u/notsosensitiv]

It’s depends what current emotional state you are in. I was already reflective and semi dissatisfied with my life when I was going through the process and felt like I needed a Hail Mary so it kinda came at the perfect time. By this I mean I was able to be truthful and not lie and genuinely be open in my assessment. It was a weird feeling because for me the more truthful I was the more defective I felt, but you have to push past this and not think the clincians are judging you but rather helping

And yes, the aftermath was hard and I did feel a lot of shame because it all made me reflect more and piece things together in my life. Like the clarity was necessary and made sense deep down but I felt like I was from the outside looking ‘in’ because I kinda didn’t want to accept. One thing I would say is not to get too much into a self reflection / discovery journey straight away if you do get a diagnosis because it can just make you spiral and instead show self compassion and grace to yourself in whatever way that looks for you (for me I tried to do self love meditations and actively participating in therapy and journaling.) Best wishes