 My name is Sam Baknin and I'm the author of Malignant St. Flood, Narcissism Revisited. Pathological envy, envy is actually one of the criteria for the Diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The New York Subdictionary of English defines envy as a feeling of discontented or resentful longing, aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities or luck. In an earlier version, the shorter Oxford English Dictionary adds, mortification and ill-will occasioned by the contemplation of another person's superior advantages. Pathological envy is the second deadly sin. But it is a compounded emotion, not a simple one. It is brought on by the realization of some lack of deficiency or inadequacy in oneself. It is a result of unfavorably comparing oneself to other people, to their success, their reputation, their possessions, their luck, their qualities. Envy is misery and humiliation and impotent rage and a torturous, slippery path to nowhere. The effort to break the padded walls of this self-visited purgatory often leads to attacks on the perceived source of frustration. There is actually a spectrum of reactions to these pernicious, cognitively distorting emotion, envy. One way is to subsume the object of envy via imitation. So some narcissists seek to imitate, or even emulate, their ever-changing role models. It is as if by imitating the object of his envy, the narcissist becomes that object, subsumes it. So, narcissists are likely to adopt their bosses' typical gestures, or the vocabulary of a successful politician they admire, or the views of an esteemed tycoon or intellectual, or even the countenance and actions of the fictitious protagonist of a movie or a novel. And that's the way they cope with their pathological envy, by becoming the source of that envy, the source of their frustration. In his pursuit of peace of mind, in his frantic efforts to alleviate the burden of consuming jealousy, the narcissist often deteriorates through conspicuous and ostentatious consumption, to impulsive, reckless behaviors, even to substance abuse. As where I wrote, in extreme cases, to get rich quick through schemes of crime and corruption to outweigh the system, in other words to prevail, is thought by these people to be the epitome of cleverness, providing one does not get caught, of course. It is a sport of living, it is a winked at vice, it is a spice of life. But some narcissists, rather than subsume the source of frustration with the object of envy, choose to destroy it, to destroy the frustrating object. They choose to destroy the object that gives them so much grief by provoking in them feeling of inadequacy and frustration, they display obsessive, blind animosity, and they engage in compulsive acts of rivalry, often at the cost of self-destruction and self-isolation. In my essay, The Dance of Jail, I wrote, This hydra has many heads, from scratching the paint of new cars and flattening their tires, to spreading vicious gossip, to media-hyped arrests of successful and rich businessmen, to wars against advantaged neighbours, these are all manifestations of pathological envy. The stifling, condensed vapours of envy cannot be dispersed, they invade their victims, their rage relies, their calculating source, they guide their hands in evil doings and they dip their tongues in vitriol. The envious narcissistic existence is a constant hiss, a tangible malice, the piercing of a thousand eyes, the imminence and imminence of violence is always there, the poison joy of depriving the other of that which you, not, or cannot, have. I also deal with the issue of self-deprecation. There are those narcissists who idealize the successful and the rich and the lucky. They are triggered to these people superhuman, almost divine qualities, in an effort to justify the agonizing disparities between themselves and others, these narcissists humble themselves and they elevate others. They reduce and diminish their own gifts, they disparage their own achievements, they degrade their own possessions and look with disdain and contempt upon their nearest and nearest who are unable to discern their fundamental shortcomings. They feel worthy only of abasement and punishment, they are besieged by guilt and remorse, voided of self-esteem, perpetually self-hating, self-loathing and self-deprecating. And this is by far actually the most dangerous species of narcissists. For he who derives contentment from his own humiliation cannot but derive happiness from the downfall of others. Indeed, most of these narcissists end up driving the objects of their own devotion and adulation to destruction and decrepitude. And then there is of course the classic defense mechanism, cognitive dissonance. The most common reaction is the good old cognitive dissonance. It is to believe that the grapes are sour rather than to admit that they are craved. These people devalue the source of their frustration and envy. They find faults, unattractive features, high costs to pay, immorality, in everything that they really most desire and aspire to, and in everyone who has attained that which they often cannot. These narcissists walk among us, critical, self-righteous, inflated with the justice of their own making upon the high moral ground and secure in the wisdom of being what they are, rather than what they could have been and really wished to be. These narcissists make a virtue of genuine abstention, of wishful constipation, of judgmental neutrality. These qualities, these behaviors, these oxymorons are the favorites of the disabled. And the narcissists is an invalid. Narcissists recoil from the sources of their envy because envy is painful. They adopt sometimes avoidance, a schizoid solution. To witness the success and joy of others is too painful, too agonizing, and too high a price to pay. So these narcissists stay at home, alone, in communicable. They inhabit the artificial bubble that is their world. And in this bubble, they are the king of the country. They are within the bubble, they are the law, they are the artistic, they are the one and only. They are in the penumbral recesses of their home, their study, their office, the flickering laptop, the only company. The only noises are electronic, and they are the residents of their own bulging delusions. And so, in this bubble, they are happy, they are soothed. They are what they dream, they dream their own being. These narcissists are no longer real, they become kind of narrative, an invention of their own feverish minds, a call of a myth, sustaining and engulfing. But they are contents. Finally, we need to discuss romantic jealousy. But the logical envy is not the same as romantic jealousy, these two emotions have little to do with each other. romantic jealousy is actually a narcissistic defense. It reflects the narcissistic traits and behaviors of possessiveness, objectification, treating the spouse and really regarding her as an object. And of course of extension, treating the spouse and regarding her as an extension of oneself, devoid of autonomy, personality, needs, wishes, emotions and autonomous action. Thus, the spouse's cheating, as in infidelity, is perceived by the narcissist to be tantamount to a violation of, in an encroachment on, his self. Exactly like non-narcissists, narcissists are humiliated by having been lied to. They suffer abandonment inside, they compare themselves with the spouse's new paramour. And they feel deprived when the services of the unfaithful and faithful spouse are no longer available to them. This kind of denial of service which may encompass sex, emotional intimacy, house chores, companionship or any other function. Romantic jealousy is the product of a violation of trust, which in the narcissist provokes paranoia. He asks himself, where else lurks deceit? It's a breach of exclusivity, which threatens the aforementioned narcissistic and nationalist. If she is an extension of the narcissist, then there is a breach of exclusivity, it's akin to objectification. There is a denial of possession, which in the narcissist translates to fear of loss and abandonment inside. Non-narcissists are even romantically jealous of intimate partners that their spouse has had before the marriage and after the divorce. Some narcissists realizing that they cannot control their spouse's forever become swingers or engage in group sex where they feel that by bringing adultery home they have tamed and controlled it. If you can't beat it, join it, as the narcissistic saying goes.