نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 دانشجوی دکتری روانشناسی، گروه روانشناسی، دانشکده علوم انسانی، واحد ساوه، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، ساوه، ایران.
2 استاد تمام، دکترای تخصصی روانشناسی، گروه روانشناسی، دانشکده علوم رفتاری، پژوهشگاه حوزه و دانشگاه، قم، ایران.
3 استادیار، دکترای تخصصی روانشناسی، گروه روانشناسی، دانشکده ادبیات و علوم انسانی، دانشگاه قم، قم، ایران.
4 استادیار، دکترای تخصصی روانشناسی تربیتی، گروه روانشناسی، دانشکده علوم انسانی، واحد ساوه، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، ساوه، ایران.
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
Introduction: Narcissistic personality disorder, a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, is a need for admiration, the lack of empathy that develops in early adulthood and is present in various contexts. The characteristics such as variable and vulnerable self-esteem along with attempts to regulate it through approval-seeking and grandiosity, arrogant and demeaning behaviors and attitudes, excessive need for admiration, a sense of entitlement, and high sensitivity to criticism disrupt their personality functions, namely identity, self-direction, empathy, and intimacy. Their goal in interacting with others is to protect their fragile self-esteem; thus, they do things that will lead to coldness and disgust from others. Narcissistic personality disorder is chronic and resistant to treatment and imposes intangible costs on the treatment system by causing individual-social functional damages, disruption of emotional and family relationships, and inadequate quality of life. To address these, it is essential to find effective methods. Given the importance of spirituality in the treatment of this disorder, and its culture-influenced nature, it is necessary to pay attention to cultural-religious issues in treatment. Spiritual interventions, by creating a person's true understanding of themselves, God, and others and transforming God-concept themselves into God-concept, cause the person to feel valuable and distance themselves from narcissistic characteristics. This research aimed to study the effectiveness of an intervention protocol based on multidimensional spiritual therapy, which is a culturally appropriate intervention method that focuses on the authentic spiritual dimension of humans, on reducing narcissistic symptoms and improving personality functions among people with narcissistic personality disorder.
Method: In this research, a classical A-B-C quasi-experimental single-subject design with multiple baselines using different subjects and continuous assessment with follow-up periods was applied. Three women with narcissistic personality disorder who were referred by psychotherapist colleagues and psychotherapy centers in 2023 entered the treatment process through the judgmental sampling based on entry and exit criteria. Pincus's (2009) Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) and Janbozorgi's (2020) personality function questionnaires were used to collect the data. Data analysis was performed using visual analysis at two levels within and between situations. At the within-situation level, the median and mean central indices were examined during the baseline, intervention, and follow-up stages through visual plotting patterns of change in level, stability, and trend for each client regarding narcissism and personality functions scores. At the inter-situational level, the Percentage of Non-overlapping Data (PND) and the Percentage of Overlapping Data (POD) were calculated. The stable change index, effect size, or percentage of improvement was also used in the analysis of the results. In the first stage, the dependent variables were measured in several sessions until stability was achieved. After drawing the baseline of the variables, the treatment process was performed in twenty individual sessions of 45-60 minutes and the variables were measured and recorded four times during the intervention. In the third stage, in order to stabilize and maintain the effect of the intervention, all three clients were examined in two-week, one-month, and three-month follow-up sessions.
Results: Clients' narcissism scores decreased during the intervention and follow-up stages, indicating the effect of the intervention on narcissism symptoms. The overall improvement percentage index at the end of the intervention sessions (50%), after the follow-up (56%) and the rate of the stable change index (above 1.96) showed that the change and reduction in the clients' narcissism symptoms were statistically significant (at the 0.05 level). The percentage of non-overlapping data (100%) indicated the high effect of the intervention on reducing narcissism symptoms. Figure 1 shows the changes in the clients' narcissism scores in all three stages.
Figure 1. Clients' narcissism scores on the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) in the baseline, intervention, and follow-up stages
In the intervention stage, personality functions improved in all three clients except intimacy in the third client, and the trend from baseline to intervention was negative and decreasing. The overall improvement percentage index at the end of the intervention sessions (50.6%) and after the follow-up (54.5%) indicated the effect of the intervention on the clients' personality functions. The stable change index (above 1.96) showed that the change and improvement in the clients' personality processes and functions were statistically significant (at the 0.05 level). The change in the clients' personality functions in all three stages is shown in Figure 2. The percentage of non-overlapping data indicated the high effectiveness of the intervention sessions on the identity and empathy of the first client (100%) and its moderate effectiveness on her self-direction and intimacy (50%), high effectiveness on all personality functions of the second client (self-direction, 75% and the rest, 100%), and identity, self-direction, and empathy (100%) of the third client.
Figure 2. Clients' personality functions scores on Janbozori's personality function questionnaire in the baseline, intervention, and follow-up stages
Discussion: The results of the intervention showed that the intervention based on multidimensional spiritual therapy was effective in reducing narcissism symptoms and improving the personality functions of people with narcissistic personality disorder. In this intervention, with confronting anti-rational forces and removing obstacles to their action, the basis for distancing from narcissistic symptoms was provided. Receiving a definition of God as the eternal and everlasting truth of the world and the self as a being dependent on Him led to the formation of a spiritual identity in the clients, which integrated the rest of their relationships and actions, and they were able to achieve identity coherence from identity instability. The identity coherence led to peace, responsibility, and purposefulness, and provided the basis for self-direction. Awareness of the Lordship, by creating a feeling of a reliable and supportive base, moderated the excessive need to attract attention and support from others. The improvement of empathy and intimacy functions can be related to the organization of spiritual identity, the real perception of others (otherness-concept) and the understanding of common points, which changed the feeling of superiority into a feeling of equality and sharing, and strengthened the empathy. Paying attention to the purpose of life highlighted the meaningfulness of life, and instead of engaging in unrealistic fantasies or mental ruminations, the individual was able to focus on the real life of the present.
According to the results obtained, it can be said that the spiritual intervention method has the sufficient efficiency and effectiveness in reducing narcissistic symptoms and improving the personality functions of people with narcissistic personality disorder; as a result, spiritual intervention can be applied to control narcissistic symptoms.
کلیدواژهها [English]