Narcissist or just confident? Here’s the difference

Insta Reels are out to paint everyone as narcissists. Here’s how to tell regular confidence from dangerous disorder

Could you be a narcissist? Don’t ask Instagram. Mental-health influencers have been tossing the term around like confetti at a parade. It’s their catch-all diagnosis for every minor frustration and perceived flaw. The content is catchy too: 10 Things My Narcissist Mother Did While I Was Growing Up (#3: Told me I’m fat); Is My Date A Narcissist? (She ate my fries, you guys!). If only classification were so simple. Four psychologists with experience in treating the disorder sort out what narcissism is and isn’t.

In The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Miranda Priestly was an exacting boss, but hardly a narcissist.

In Gone Girl (2014), Rosamund Pike’s character was extremely insecure and wanted attention.

Scarlett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind (1939) thought she was better than everyone else.

Tom Ripley displays narcissistic traits such as a lack of conscience and empathy, in Ripley (2024).