Pathological Narcissism and Symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder among Psychiatric Outpatients: The Mediating Role of Impaired Emotional Processing

Research is scarce regarding the mechanisms by which pathological narcissism - consisting of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability - is linked with depression. The present study examined whether impaired emotional processing would mediate relations between pathological narcissism domains and depressive symptoms in a sample of 99 psychiatric outpatients. A significant indirect effect was found for narcissistic vulnerability on depressive symptoms, through unprocessed emotion as a mediator. Findings suggest that narcissistic vulnerability contributes to persistent and intrusive negative feelings, which in turn contribute to depressive symptom severity.