Differentiating narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders

The conceptual, clinical, and empirical overlap between the constructs of n arcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is reviewed and their descriptive discriminability is investigated. Twenty-four patients with NPD and 16 patients with ASPD were compared on 33 characteristics for pathological narcissism assessed with the semistructur ed Diagnostic Interview for Narcissism. The re suits confirm a sufficiently broad array of similarities that the question of whether these categories should be kept separate (as they are in DSM-IV) is underscored. The results also indicate important areas of difference. The NPD sample was best discr iminated from the ASPD sample by their grandiosity, that is, the tendency t o exaggerate their talents, and to regard themselves as more unique and sup erior.