Part 1: Psychology & Social Media: To chase clout or to remain an ethical clinician?

In recent years, the term “narcissist” has become widely used across social media platforms, often in a loose and non-clinical way. It is frequently applied to describe behavior that is experienced as selfish, hurtful, dismissive, or emotionally difficult. While increased public awareness of mental health concepts is valuable and important, many of these interpretations are not grounded in clinical training or psychological research.

As a result, complex patterns of human behavior are often reduced to simplified labels. This creates the illusion of explanation, but can actually limit understanding.

At the end of the day, what does it say about us when we are throwing around a term that is deeply tied to clinical classification systems such as the DSM, while often stripping it of its original context and meaning? To be precise, Narcissistic Personality Disorder has remained part of the DSM framework, but the way personality disorders are understood has evolved significantly over time. Contemporary psychology increasingly emphasizes dimensional trait models and contextual understanding, rather than rigid, simplified interpretations. The key issue, then, is not whether the diagnosis exists, but how far everyday usage has drifted from clinical meaning.

In clinical psychology, personality constructs are not moral labels or catch-all explanations for behavior. They are structured frameworks used to understand patterns of thinking, emotion, and interpersonal functioning over time. When these frameworks are removed from their clinical context and used casually, they risk becoming substitutes for understanding rather than tools that support it.

This is especially important when discussing harmful or abusive relationships.

Abuse is best understood through observable and repeated behavioral patterns, such as coercion, manipulation, isolation, intimidation, control, and boundary violations. These behaviors can occur across different relational contexts and are not dependent on a single personality profile or diagnosis.

When we explain abuse primarily through labels such as “narcissism,” there is a risk that we unintentionally shift attention away from the specific actions that occurred. This can blur accountability, reduce clarity about what actually happened, and oversimplify dynamics that are often gradual, and patterned.

In some cases, label-based explanations can also create confusion about responsibility. They may suggest that harmful behavior is best understood primarily through personality structure, rather than through choices, reinforcement patterns, learned behaviors, or relational dynamics. In reality, harmful behavior can emerge through multiple pathways, including social learning, emotional dysregulation, power dynamics, and environmental reinforcement—without requiring a specific diagnostic category.

From a psychological standpoint, traits such as empathy, guilt, and remorse exist on a spectrum and can vary depending on context and relational dynamics. No single label fully captures this complexity.

Even clinically, personality disorders are not defined by a single trait or behavior. They involve persistent, pervasive patterns across multiple areas of functioning, and diagnosis is intended to describe patterns of impairment—not to serve as a moral classification of a person.

This is why precision in language matters.

In professional, educational, and community settings, the way we use psychological language shapes how we understand responsibility, behavior, and interpersonal harm. When clinical terms become simplified into social labels, they lose specificity and can unintentionally distort understanding rather than improve it.

Awareness of psychological concepts is valuable. But awareness without accuracy risks turning complex human behavior into simplified narratives that may feel satisfying in the moment, but are less useful in understanding reality.

At the end of the day what does it say about us when we as clinicians choose to chase clout on social media by throwing out labels such as narcissism generously instead of presenting accurate, clear and grounded information?

About the Author

Manpreet Dhaliwal is a trauma-informed Punjabi counsellor based in Surrey, BC, providing culturally sensitive counselling services across British Columbia. She specializes in anxiety, trauma, emotional regulation, relationship issues, and healing using evidence-based approaches including CBT, DBT, and EMDR therapy.

Through the Psychology Now Blog, Manpreet shares practical mental health insights to help individuals better understand emotional patterns, trauma responses, relationships, and personal growth in a compassionate and accessible way.