The findings, which appear in The Open Psychology Journal, show that participants who posted large numbers of photos and selfies on social media developed a 25 percent rise in narcissistic traits over the 4-month study period.

Three meta-analyses that were based on up to 57 studies and 25,000 participants found some support for a link between social media and narcissism. Narcissists tend to have more social media friends, and the frequency of posting and sharing pictures is particularly strongly associated with narcissism.

No! People who score higher on agreeableness, extraversion, less neuroticism and conscientiousness experience more positive effects and less negative effects when visiting social media websites.

Overall, then, people who post a lot on social media may tend to be higher in narcissism, particularly in terms of higher grandiosity. But, the strength of the relationship between narcissism and social media use was small-to-moderate.

While more narcissistic people can be entertaining and often great fun to spend time with, their inability to pay attention to other people’s needs can make it feel lonely to be around them even when we’re not alone.

The truth is that nothing can make a narcissist happy, because their agenda of dominance, exploitation and oppression creates an ever-expanding chasm within their soul. The narcissist can take pleasure in the exercise of power and the subjugation of others, but they can’t feel happiness from any source.

Narcissistic people are unable to feel genuine happiness because they severely, or even completely, lack a sense of genuine self. As a result, they are chronically miserable people who desperately try to feel better by constantly managing their fragile and skewed sense of self-esteem.

Sometimes, the narcissist doesn’t mean to hurt you. Being sensitive to everything is just how their brains work. And if they are — by their own logic — being attacked, they will bite back even harder. However, by their nature, they may also want to hurt you too, because it makes them feel superior.

Although some theorists have claimed that narcissism is associated with unhappiness (e.g. Kernberg, 1975, Lasch, 1979, Reich, 1954) the results of this study suggest that only some narcissists—covert narcissists—are unhappy.

Whatever the reasons for starting the relationship, it will eventually end. Narcissists tire of their victims when they’ve exhausted their supply of care, money, or whatever else they were after. As quickly as they entered your life, they leave it, which can leave the victim incredibly confused, broken, and lost.

Although narcissists act superior to others and posture as beyond reproach, underneath their grandiose exteriors lurk their deepest fears: That they are flawed, illegitimate, and ordinary.

We tend to feel special when we feel loved. “Deep down, narcissists hope for love and caring”, says Frank Yeomans, “but it often makes them feel very uncomfortable if they seem to find it, partly because they feel vulnerable and doubt the authenticity of any love that comes their way.