The narcissist, humiliated, feels very inferior and this feeling is buttressed by the internalisation of the ideal object and its sadistic voice. The Narcissistic Personality Disorder is an adaptative reaction to this emotional incapacity and to these degrading voices. It gives the narcissist the feeling that he is unique, different and superior (albeit only within his reclusive universe).

This feeling of superiority is usually based on some personal trait such as brain or brawn. NPD is a compensatory disorder. The validity of the negative judgement of the external world is thus negated and a conflict, and the constant anxiety attending to it, are resolved satisfactorily.

But the narcissistic disorder leads to the further isolation of the narcissist and to his gradual re-emergence as a freak. This generates more scorn, amazement, avoidance and suspicion and, these, in turn, lead to revulsion, hatred and sanctions, social or physical.

As these processes unfold, the narcissist's awareness of them, however vague, is intact. He deeply resents and envies the emotionally and socially skilled, the sexually initiated. This all-pervasive envy is felt as depression and sadness. The narcissist resorts to the more drastic measure of constructing a world of virtual reality, which only he inhabits.

He projects to the world a "False, virtual Ego or Self". Gradually, he grows to believe this fake miscreant, his own creation. He nurtures it and measures himself and his achievements against it. His main task becomes to support the existence of this patently fictitious structure by coercing his environment to reinforce it. He collects and cherishes every sign that this False Self succeeded in establishing its independent existence.

Then he proceeds to fall in love with an "ideal virtual partner". He uses a real life woman as a "hanger" and dresses her with this fictitious figure. There is no connection between the real life woman and the invented one. The end result is the narcissistic world: a False Ego which cohabits with a virtual partner, going through the phases of an invented life.

When these lies are exposed - as they always are - the narcissist pays a dear price, both emotionally and in terms of image, and becomes the subject of detestation, hatred and ex-communication. He is sentenced to forever repeat the horrors of his childhood magnified through the prism of adulthood. The same happens when the narcissist's "virtual normal life" is shattered, for instance, when his romantic or business partners abandon him.

The NSSs have, therefore, a double function. They supply the narcissist with his drug (Narcissistic Supply) and they provide him with the feedback he needs to re-orientate himself.

The Narcissistic Feedback has a heavy influence on the narcissistically disordered personality. The narcissist compares signals emanating from Primary NSS and from Secondary NSS and judges the extent of their coherence and consistency. When the two match, a Narcissistic Feedback Loop is formed.

At the beginning of every narcissistic mini-cycle, the narcissist activates only his PNSS. A Primary Narcissistic Feedback Loop (PNFL) is formed and activates the SNSS. These, in turn, form the Secondary Narcissistic Feedback Loop (SNFL).

It is important to note that anti-narcissistic agents are transformed into NSSs during a positive PNFL. Conversely, when the PNFL is negative, even proper NSSs are transformed into anti-narcissistic agents.

Examples: having sex, the narcissist's workplace, being in a crowd, or in a competitive situation, all become NSSs when the PNFL is positive. Yet, they are transformed into all powerful and anxiety provoking anti-narcissistic agents when PNFL is negative. The opposite example: NSSs such as possessing money, exerting power, or "conquering" women, are transformed into anti-narcissistic agents when the narcissist is not famous (when his PNFL is negative).

The Primary NSSs (Narcissistic Sources of Supply) include: publicity (celebrity, notoriety, fame, infamy), mystique (when the narcissist is considered to be mysterious), having sex and deriving from it a sense of masculinity/virility/femininity, a projection of wealth (the image is more important than reality), proximity to power (money/knowledge/contacts) which is in itself mysterious and awe inspiring.

The Secondary NSSs include: having a mate, conspicuous and ostentatious wealth, visible creativity and its results, running a business (if transformed into a Pathological Narcissistic Space), the sense of an anarchic freedom, belonging to a group of people who, together, constitute a PN Space, success as measured by others, owning property and status symbols (show-off).

Let us remind ourselves of the utility of NSS:

The narcissist internalises a "bad" object in his childhood. He develops socially proscribed feelings (aggression, hatred, envy) towards this object. These feelings reinforce the narcissist's self-image as bad and corrupt. Gradually he develops a dysfunctional sense of self-worth. His self-confidence and self-image become unrealistically low, unstable, and distorted.

The narcissist learns through his tortuous, inexplicable, stochastic life that every good thing inevitably comes with a bad corollary, every success ends in failure. He tries to pre-empt the inevitable by himself initiating (and, thus controlling) the inevitable calamity.

The narcissist often attempts to rehabilitate himself but because he is emotionally dissociated he fails repeatedly and miserably and his efforts often end in an orgy of destruction, both of himself and of others. This further strengthens his self-image as inferior, "bad", and a failure.

In an effort to repress these "bad" feelings, the narcissist is forced to suppress all emotions, negative and positive. His aggression is channelled to fantasies or to legitimate outlets (dangerous sports, gambling, reckless driving, compulsive shopping).