The Sacrificial Man

“Yes, I could see her as a bully.” Cate herself had felt Alice’s intimidating presence. “But is she dangerous?”
“That depends. If a person feels beyond the law, if they feel justified in everything they do, and if they lack empathy, then they can be very dangerous indeed.”
Cate took a breath, and thought she should have seen this coming.

It struck me as quite a typical presentation of the symptoms.”
There was a pause on the line, but Cate found herself momentarily unable to fill it. “What other traits would she have if she’s got egomania?”
“One is envy of others. They’re highly exploitative people, they can sniff out other people’s weaknesses like rats. In work situations they’re often high achievers but also bullies.

“Not a huge amount. But she did go to some lengths to protect her parents. I think she cares about their feelings.”
“She needs to show five traits to be diagnosed. Even if she has empathy, her need for excessive admiration is obvious from the way she talks. She showed a great deal of arrogance, demanding what right I had to judge her.

She’s preoccupied with power, arrogant and has a feeling of entitlement to act as she feels fit. Another feature is a lack of empathy. You’ve seen her more than me, have you seen any evidence of empathy?”
Cate thought of Alice’s dismissive attitude towards her addict student Alex.

It’s the nineteenth century word for a Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but I think it sums things up nicely. I think Alice is a classic case. There are nine key features to the disorder, and my initial assessment is that she scores high on most of them.