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Revision as of 20:27, 21 December 2020 by 77.28.133.244 (talk) (link added to German language introduction to Cold Therapy)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Israeli writer of fiction and non-fiction, also on narcissistic personality disorder| Sam Vaknin | |
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 Vaknin in 2019 | |
| Born | Shmuel Vaknin April 21, 1961 (1961-04-21) (age 63) Kiryat Yam, Israel |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Known for | Self-help material on narcissistic personality disorder. Work on chronons. |
| Spouse | Lidija Rangelovska |
| Website | samvak.tripod.com |
Shmuel "Sam" Vaknin (born April 21, 1961) is an Israeli writer. He is the author of Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited (1999), was editor-in-chief of political news website Global Politician, and runs a private website about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). He has also postulated a theory on chronons and time asymmetry.
Background
Early life
Vaknin was born in Kiryat Yam, Israel, the eldest of five children born to Sephardi Jewish immigrants. Vaknin's mother was from Turkey, and his father, a construction worker, was from Morocco. He describes a difficult childhood, in which he writes that his parents "were ill-equipped to deal with normal children, let alone the gifted".
He left home to serve in the Israel Defense Forces from 1979 to 1982 in training and education units. Between 1980 and 1983 he founded a chain of computerized information kiosks in Tel Aviv, and in 1982 worked for the Nessim D. Gaon Group in Geneva, Paris, and New York City. It was in the mid-1980s that he became aware of difficulties in his relationship with his fiancée, and that he had mood swings. In 1985 he sought help from a psychiatrist, who diagnosed him with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Vaknin did not accept the diagnosis at the time. From 1986 to 1987 he was the general manager of IPE Ltd. in London. He moved back to Israel, where he became director of an Israeli investment firm, Mikbatz Teshua. He was also president of the Israeli chapter of the Unification Church's Professors for World Peace Academy.
Arrest and imprisonment
In Israel in 1995 he was found guilty on three counts of securities fraud along with two other men, Nissim Avioz and Dov Landau. He was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment and fined 50,000 shekels (about $14,000), while the company was fined 100,000 shekels. In 1996, as a condition of parole, he agreed to a mental health evaluation, which noted various personality disorders. According to Vaknin, "I was borderline schizoid, but the most dominant was NPD," and on this occasion he accepted the diagnosis, because, he wrote, "it was a relief to know what I had."
Later life
Vaknin moved to Skopje, Macedonia, where he married Macedonian Lidija Rangelovska. They set up Narcissus Publications in 1997, which publishes Vaknin's work. Between 2001 and 2003, Vaknin was a Senior Business Correspondent for United Press International. He has also written for Central Europe Review about political issues in the Balkans, as well as for the Middle East Times. Until a few weeks before the September 2002 Macedonian election, he served as an adviser to Macedonia's Ministry of Finance. He writes regularly for other publications, such as the International Analyst Network, and the online American Chronicle.
Vaknin is visiting professor at Southern Federal University in Rostov Oblast, Russia in 2017-2022 holding a course of lectures there on personality theory in psychology. He is also a professor of finance and a professor of psychology in the Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS) in Nigeria.
Writing and interviews
Work on chronons and time asymmetry
A model of quantised time was proposed by Vaknin in his 1982 Ph.D. dissertation, titled "Time Asymmetry Revisited". The dissertation was published by California Miramar University. The dissertation submitted postulates the existence of a particle (chronon). In the proposed theory, time is the result of the interaction of chronons, very much as other forces in nature are the result of other particle interactions. Vaknin postulates the existence of various time quarks (up, down, colors, etc.) whose properties cancel each other and thus the arrow of time is derived (time asymmetry). The postulated particle (chronon) is not only an ideal clock, but also mediates time itself (analogous to the relationship between the Higgs boson and mass). In other words, what we call "time" is the interaction between chronons in a field. Chronons exchange between them a particle and thereby exert a force. "Events" are perturbations in the Time Field and they are distinct from chronon interactions. Chronon interactions (particle exchanges) in the Time Field generate "time" and "time asymmetry" as we observe them.
Views on narcissism
Vaknin has a prolific online presence, writing on narcissism and psychopathy. His views have been solicited by the media.
In his view, narcissists have lost their "true self", the core of their personality, which has been replaced by delusions of grandeur, a "false self". Therefore, he believes, they cannot be healed, because they do not exist as real persons, only as reflections: "The False Self replaces the narcissist's True Self and is intended to shield him from hurt and narcissistic injury by self-imputing omnipotence ... The narcissist pretends that his False Self is real and demands that others affirm this confabulation," meanwhile keeping his real-life imperfect true self under wraps. Vaknin extends the concept of narcissistic supply, and introduces concepts such as primary and secondary narcissistic supply. He distinguishes between cerebral and somatic narcissists; the former generate their narcissistic supply by applying their minds, the latter their bodies. He considers himself a cerebral narcissist. He calls narcissistic co-dependents "inverted narcissists." " provide the narcissist with an obsequious, unthreatening audience...the perfect backdrop." He believes that disproportionate numbers of pathological narcissists are at work in the most influential reaches of society, such as medicine, finance and politics.
Vaknin developed a new treatment modality for narcissism and depression, dubbed "Cold Therapy". It is based on recasting pathological narcissism as a form of CPTSD (Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) and arrested development which result in an addictive personality with a dysfunctional attachment style. The therapy uses re-traumatization and a form of reframing.
Film appearances
In 2007, Vaknin appeared in the episode "Egomania" of the British Channel 4 documentary series Mania.
In 2009, he was the subject of an Australian documentary film, I, Psychopath, directed by Ian Walker. In the film, Vaknin underwent a psychological evaluation in which he met the criteria for psychopathy according to the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, but did not meet the criteria for narcissism.
In 2016, Vaknin appeared in the documentary "How Narcissists Took Over the World" produced by Vice Media.
In 2019, Vaknin appeared in the online documentary "Plugged-in: The True Toxicity of Social Media Revealed" produced by Richard Grannon.
Selected publications
- Requesting my Loved One (Bakasha me-Isha Ahuva) published by Yedioth Aharonot Miskal, Tel-Aviv, 1997
- (with Nikola Gruevski) Macedonian Economy on a Crossroads. Skopje, NIP Noval Literatura, 1998. ISBN 9989-610-01-0
- Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited. Narcissus Publications, Prague, 1999. ISBN 978-80-238-3384-3
- After the Rain: How the West Lost the East. Narcissus Publications, in association with Central Europe Review/CEENMI, 2000. ISBN 80-238-5173-X
See also
- Malignant narcissism
- Narcissistic abuse
- Narcissistic rage and narcissistic injury
- Flying monkeys (popular psychology)
References
- ^ Vaknin, Sam. "Interview with a Narcissist", samvak.tripod.com, accessed October 30, 2010.
- "Sam Vaknin—in his own words", CBC, accessed October 30, 2010.
- ^ Race, Tim. "New Economy; Like Narcissus, executives are smitten, and undone, by their own images", The New York Times, July 29, 2002, p. 2.
- For his position with the GP website, see "GP Editors" Archived 2010-11-09 at the Wayback Machine, Global Politicians, accessed February 6, 2011.
- For Vaknin's website, see here.
- Vaknin S Time Asymmetry Re-Visited
- ^ Roberts, Yvonne (September 16, 2007). "The monster in the mirror". The Sunday Times. London, England: News UK. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011.
- Rosenfeld, Jose (July 27, 1995). "Business Briefs". The Jerusalem Post.
- Gordon, Evelyn (June 14, 1996). "Supreme Court rejects appeal of three stock manipulators". The Jerusalem Post.
- ^ Tempany, Adrian. "When narcissism becomes pathological", Financial Times, September 4, 2010.
- Vaknin, Sam. "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited", samvak.tripod.com, accessed October 30, 2010.
- Vaknin, Sam UPI: Commentary: The morality of Child labor, Accessed October 30, 2010
- Central Europe Review. Author Archive: Sam Vaknin. Accessed October 30, 2010
- Vaknin, Sam, Middle East Times: The axis of oil, Accessed October 30, 2010.
- International Analyst Network
- American Chronicle
- Letter of Appointment Southern Federal University
- Southern Federal University website
- CIAPS faculty Sam Vaknin's page
- California Miramar University, available on Microfiche in UMI and from the Library of Congress http://lccn.loc.gov/85133690
- California Miramar University, available on Microfiche in UMI and from the Library of Congress http://lccn.loc.gov/85133690
- Vaknin S Time Asymmetry Re-Visited
- Sam Vaknin website
- Lisa Respers France (February 2, 2011). "Reality bites after the lights go out". CNN. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
- Vaknin S The Dual Role of the Narcissist's False Self
- http://samvak.tripod.com/faq48.html
- Vaknin, Sam Narcissists, Narcissistic Supply and Sources of Supply
- Vaknin, Sam The Cerebral vs. the Somatic Narcissist
- Vaknin, Sam The Inverted Narcissist
- Crompton, Simon. All About Me: Loving a Narcissist. HarperCollins, 2007) p. 31.
- "Cold Therapy, Warmly Recommended", condensed and translated from German
- Narcissism: Treatment Modalities and Therapies
- Cold Therapy and Narcissistic Disorders of the Self, Journal of Clinical Review
- German language introduction to Cold Therapy
- Woolaston, Sam "Last night's TV", The Guardian, February 6, 2007.
- "I, Psychopath", CBC, May 25, 2009.
- Walters, Conrad (March 25, 2010). "Brain scan". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
- How Narcissists Took Over the World Vice Media 12 Sep 2016
- Plugged-in: The True Toxicity of Social Media Revealed
- http://lccn.loc.gov/97826249
- Project Gutenberg - books by Sam Vaknin
- Central Europe Review Accessed October 30, 2010
External links
| Narcissism | |
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| Similar personality concepts | |
| In society | |
| Pathological narcissism | |
| Related psychology concepts | |
 Category | |