Gerald Adler

Bio: Gerald Adler is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Narcissism & Narcissistic personality disorder. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 6 publications receiving 981 citations.

Hospital treatment of borderline patients.

Abstract: Staff members handling hospitalized borderline patients are challenged to offer them a new kind of experience rather than reconfirming the projections they are so expert in eliciting from people. The author describes an approach to treatment of these patients in which the staff attempts to handle its own retaliatory fury toward these patients because of their provocative behavior and is able to set limits in a nonpunitive way.

The borderline-narcissistic personality disorder continuum.

Abstract: The author describes the usefulness of conceptualizing patients with borderline and narcissistic personality disorders along a continuum, using three main developmental lines. A clinical example demonstrates progression, during psychotherapy, from the borderline end of the continuum to the narcissistic personality disorder end.

The Myth of the Alliance with Borderline Patients

Abstract: The author questions the concept of a therapeutic alliance in the psychotherapy of patients with borderline and narcissistic personality disorders. The motivating elements in their treatment are the emerging, sustaining transferences, which also allow the patients to appreciate the real qualities of their therapist. As they internalize aspects of their interactions with the therapist, including the therapist's real characteristics that are lacking in themselves, the patients gradually develop the capacity to work collaboratively with him or her. When a solid therapeutic alliance is established, the patients have reached a neurotic level of functioning.

Psychotherapy of the narcissistic personality disorder patient: two contrasting approaches.

Abstract: The differences in the theoretical and clinical approaches that Kernberg and Kohut have defined are used to discuss the psychodynamics and psychotherapy of the narcissistic personality disorder patient. Their contrasting contributions help clarify the nature of these patients' difficulties, the possibility that there is a spectrum of narcissistic disorders, the effect of existing theory and the personalities of clinicians-theoreticians on the collection of clinical data, and the effects of theoretical formulations on the psychotherapeutic process.

Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology.

Abstract: This article attempted to demonstrate that the perfectionism construct is multidimensional, comprising both personal and social components, and that these components contribute to severe levels of psychopathology. We describe three dimensions of perfectionism: self-oriented perfectionism, other-oriented perfectionism, and socially prescribed perfectionism. Four studies confirm the multidimensionality of the construct and show that these dimensions can be assessed in a reliable and valid manner. Finally, a study with 77 psychiatric patients shows that self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism relate differentially to indices of personality disorders and other psychological maladjustment. A multidimensional approach to the study of perfectionism is warranted, particularly in terms of the association between perfectionism and maladjustment.

A Principal-Components Analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and Further Evidence of Its Construct Validity

Abstract: We examined the internal and external validity of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). Study 1 explored the internal structure of the NPI responses of 1,018 subjects. Using principal-components analysis, we analyzed the tetrachoric correlations among the NPI item responses and found evidence for a general construct of narcissism as well as seven first-order components, identified as Authority, Exhibitionism, Superiority, Vanity, Exploitativeness, Entitlement, and Self-Sufficiency. Study 2 explored the NPI's construct validity with respect to a variety of indexes derived from observational and self-report data in a sample of 57 subjects. Study 3 investigated the NPI's construct validity with respect to 128 subjects' self and ideal self-descriptions, and their congruency, on the Leary Interpersonal Check List. The results from Studies 2 and 3 tend to support the construct validity of the full-scale NPI and its component scales.

Unraveling the Paradoxes of Narcissism: A Dynamic Self-Regulatory Processing Model

Abstract: We propose a dynamic self-regulatory processing model of narcissism and review supporting evidence. The model casts narcissism in terms of motivated self-construction, in that the narcissist's self is shaped by the dynamic interaction of cognitive and affective intrapersonal processes and interpersonal self-regulatory strategies that are played out in the social arena. A grandiose yet vulnerable self-concept appears to underlie the chronic goal of obtaining continuous external self-affirmation. Because narcissists are insensitive to others' concerns and social constraints and view others as inferior, their self-regulatory efforts often are counterproductive and ultimately prevent the positive feedback that they seek-thus undermining the self they are trying to create and maintain. We draw connections between this model and other processing models in personality and employ these models to further elucidate the construct of narcissism. Reconceptualizing narcissism as a self-regulatory processing system prom...

It's All about Me: Narcissistic Chief Executive Officers and Their Effects on Company Strategy and Performance:

Abstract: This study uses unobtrusive measures of the narcissism of chief executive officers (CEOs)—the prominence of the CEO's photograph in annual reports, the CEO's prominence in press releases, the CEO's...

Introducing the short Dark Triad (SD3): a brief measure of dark personality traits.

Abstract: Three socially aversive traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—have been studied as an overlapping constellation known as the Dark Triad. Here, we develop and validate the Short Dark Triad (SD3), a brief proxy measure. Four studies (total N = 1,063) examined the structure, reliability, and validity of the subscales in both community and student samples. In Studies 1 and 2, structural analyses yielded three factors with the final 27 items loading appropriately on their respective factors. Study 3 confirmed that the resulting SD3 subscales map well onto the longer standard measures. Study 4 validated the SD3 subscales against informant ratings. Together, these studies indicate that the SD3 provides efficient, reliable, and valid measures of the Dark Triad of personalities.