Surrounded by Narcissists

Since this is not written by a trained mental health professional, it's hard for me to recommend this book to anyone. If you decide to read it, it's a decent primer to the topic, but you definitely should read more from those who work in the field of psychology and directly with people who have NPD.

The 2nd third of the book about collective narcissism was not very helpful in dealing with interpersonal relationships, and honestly, read very much just like the author letting off steam about how they don't care for social media, like one of those viral Facebook posts that sounds profound, but really is just griping about how kids these days are ruining society. I think there is validity in exploring the traits of narcissism within the culture, but this approach felt very judgmental, rather than a critical analysis.

In the last third it focuses on parenting and again, these are all the authors opinions who is not a trained professional on parenting. While there is certainly room to critique parents, the author makes a lot of generalizations that group those who follow a more conscious parenting approach, in with a small percentage of parents who may be making choices that don't enforce boundaries. By not defining the difference between any parenting modalities or citing anything other than anecdotal research, he ends up implying that anything less than an authoritarian style could result in raising a narcissist., despite the mountain of research that shows the benefits of a more emotional intelligence parenting approach. The author makes no distinction, which makes me think they either aren't familiar with different parenting techniques and the research behind them or doesn't think they are valid. Regardless, this book is presented as an expert view point but the author has no credentials in the field of family psychology.

I am reading this from an American perspective while the author is Swedish, so that definitely influences our differing opinions on how this topic is discussed, but at the end of the day this was written by someone outside of the mental health field. The author is a motivational coach and public speaker who has found a niche they can write about and market in a very appealing way.

So to really drive home my main feeling: I caution anyone picking this up. Do not take this as the be all and end all of NPD and I encourage you to read one of the many books on this topic authored by someone with a degree in counseling and treating mental health issues.

***Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me with the Audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.