Narcissism

Robert is joined by author, Integral philosophy teacher, and 40+ year veteran psychotherapist Dr. Keith Witt to explore a topic that is sometimes considered a “four letter word” in today’s culture—narcissism. Though typically thought of in narrowly defined terms, Dr. Keith Witt helps broaden our perspective through various lenses: historical, political, psychological, and Integral/developmental. Discover how there is both a narcissist and a wise self in all of us. Warning: this episode goes down some intellectual rabbit-holes as we Integral theory geeks tend to do. Some of the topics we explore include: - The Roman poet Ovid’s original portrayal of Narcissus - Narcissistic traits vs. Narcissistic Personality Disorder - The Trump phenomenon - Authoritarian systems and narcissism - Practices for authentic self-love - The importance of having a sense of humour Show notes: 1:49 - Introducing Dr. Keith Witt 4:28 - Ovid’s story of Narcissus 6:42 - Freud turns psychology into a science 10:03 - The introduction of the term “narcissism” 12:18 - Everything is relationships 15:13 - A limited number of therapy sessions with narcissists 18:54 - The difference between narcissistic traits and NPD 20:15 - The introduction of shame in children and regulation 22:14 - The Jean Piaget experiment for cognitive development 23:58 - All cultures have hierarchies 25:32 - Historical timeline of how humans developed self-awareness 27:48 - Historical figures throughout time who looked at the world through an Integral lens 29:15 - There is an epidemic of how we relate with mental illnesses 31:39 - Integral theory and Spiral Dynamics: Tribal 33:50 - Authoritarian systems and narcissism 34:43 - The Trump phenomenon 39:38 - How narcissism gets internalized at different stages of development 45:15 - Keith’s journey of learning about psychology 47:53 - The biggest blindspot in modern business is middle-management 49:24 - Regulation and the rock star/child celebrity example 52:32 - Service is one of the main vehicles out of narcissism 55:10 - Recovering from the addiction of narcissism 57:22 - Extreme opportunities to re-author self after traumatic events 1:01:25 - We are social beings 1:00:54 - Covert narcissism 1:02:34 - The importance of having a sense of humour, “hurts more, bothers us less” 1:04:47 - Using projection to help narcissists grow 1:05:24 - Looking in the mirror at both our strengths and weaknesses 1:06:04 - Different lines of development 1:06:50 - Maturity around protecting good, true, and beautiful assets like language 1:10:24 - There’s a wise self in all of us 1:11:07 - Giving feedback in a plus/delta format, focusing on strengths as well as weaknesses Dr Keith Witt is a licensed clinical psychologist, lecturer and author dedicated to studying, teaching, and creating transformative healing systems. He’s been practicing psychotherapy in Santa Barbara, California for over 40 years, where he’s conducted over 55,000 therapy sessions with individuals, couples, and groups. Find his books, trainings, and more here: https://drkeithwitt.com/