Are you a narcissist? Do you interact with someone who is? Contrary to popular belief, narcissists do not love themselves or anyone else. They cannot accept their true selves, constructing instead fixed masks that hide emotional numbness. Influenced by forces in culture and predisposed by factors in the human personality, narcissists tend to be

• More concerned with how they appear than what they feel

• Seductive and manipulative, striving for power and control

• Egotists, focused on their own interests but lacking the true values of the self -- self-expression, self-possession, dignity, and integrity

• Without a solid sense of self, which leads them to experience life as empty and meaningless.