I know accusing people of narcissism is very popular nowadays, but there is a clear link between narcissistic personality disorder (and possibky other cluster b disorders) and transgender identity. I wanted to discuss my thoughts on this as well as some older research/discussions on the topic.
First off, the only actual published study on this topic (that I am aware of) was done in Iran, which actively pushes homosexual people to transition. It's not necessarily representative of the situation in other countries. Even so, the study found 50%+ rate of NPD. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4301205/
Secondly, Anne Lawrence (a self-confessed AGP TIM) wrote a paper entitled "Shame and narcissistic rage in autogynephilic transsexualism" which delves into the phenomenon. An important bit of context to this paper is Alice Dreger's paper ( and later book) about TRAs attacks on Michael Bailey for his book "The Man Who Would Be Queen". Found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3170124/ and in her book "Galileo's Middle Finger".
If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading Dreger's paper, as it demonstrates the attack dog style of TRA activism isn't a recent development.
I think there are some interesting links between people with NPD and trans identity, but I also think there is a good case to be made that trans identity actually leads to NPD behaviors.
In a nutshell, due to the creation of a new trans identity, the trans-identified person is presenting an ego (used in the sense-of-self meaning) which is idealized but also false. In traditional NPD, the narcissistic person interprets any perceived minor insult as an attack on themself. This is due to their desire to protect their internal feelings of shame or worthlessness behind a false ego that must be defended at all costs.
The link here is that when someone starts to create a new persona based on their trans feelings, they are also creating a false ego. Not necessarily for the same reason as classical NPD, but they defend it for similar reasons. Any challenge to the trans identity is emotionally interpreted as an attack on the self. Due to the essential conflict between reality and the new identity, there is a constant need for external validation to keep the new false ego happy. Narcissists also have issues with object permeance, which means they "forget" about people and things if they aren't in their immediate awareness, which plays into the need for excessive validation.
I'm interested in people's responses and thoughts and any corroborating (or contradictory) resources.
there doesn't seem to be anything here