Fast Five Quiz: Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Stephen Soreff, MD

Disclosures

January 10, 2020

Although no psychiatric medications are specifically approved for the treatment of narcissistic personality disorder, patients often benefit from the use of such medications to help alleviate certain symptoms associated with this disorder or to manage concomitant axis I diagnoses. Concomitant axis I diagnoses include major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and dysthymia.

Medications that may be considered include antidepressants (specifically, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs]), antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers.

SSRIs, such as citalopram, may be used to treat depressive symptoms in adult patients with narcissistic personality disorder. They are the antidepressants of choice because of their minimal anticholinergic effects. All are equally efficacious; selection depends on adverse effects and drug interactions. Determining whether the patient with narcissistic personality disorder has a formal axis I diagnosis of major depression or depressive symptoms related to narcissistic pathology is important; this determination will influence the length and course of treatment.

Read more about medication use in patients with narcissistic personality disorder.

This Fast Five Quiz was excerpted and adapted from the Medscape Drugs & Diseases article Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

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