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Healthy narcissism is a positive sense of self that is in alignment with the greater good. The concept of healthy narcissism was first coined by Paul Federn and gained prominence in the 1970s through the research of Heinz Kohut and Otto Kernberg. It developed slowly out of the psychoanalytic tradition, and became popular in the late twentieth century. The concept of healthy narcissism is used in clinical psychology and popular psychology as an aid to self-assertion and success. It has indeed been suggested that it is useful to think of a continuum of narcissism, ranging from deficient to healthy to pathological, with stable narcissism and destructive narcissism as stopping-points in between. Recent scientific work suggests that healthy narcissism reflects an abundance of agentic/self-enhancing features and a relative absence of antagonistic/other-derogating elements. Modern research Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept (NARC) Narcissism, more specifically grandiose narcissism, has been variously described as a "double-edged sword" and a "mixed blessing" in that it has both adaptive (high self-esteem, assertiveness, popularity) and maladaptive correlates (violence, antisocial behaviour, risk-taking). This contradictory assortment of correlates led psychologist Mitja D. Back and colleagues to devise the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept (NARC), a model based on normative self-regulation theories. Such theories suggest that individuals regulate their self-esteem through two strategies: self-enhancement (advancing oneself or promoting positive self-views) and self-protection (fending off negative views of the self). Back et al. reason that because narcissistic self-views are inflated, so too must be the processes of self-regulation. The NARC suggests that grandiose narcissism is composed of two distinct dimensions, each with a cognitive, affective-motivational, and behavioural aspect: Narcissistic admiration (ADM): an exaggerated style of self-enhancement defined by grandiose thoughts and fantasies (cognitive), optimistic striving for personal uniqueness, and a assertive, self-assured and charming interpersonal style (behavioural) conducive to social admiration and status acquisition, especially prestige-/competence-based status. ADM is thought of a self-regulation strategy that functions as a loop which maintains the grandiose self: grandiose self-related thoughts (e.g. "I am great", "I am a genius") are believed to strong feelings of uniqueness, specialness and superiority, which promote the desire to pursue and demonstrate the alleged grandiose qualities, which in turn result in their attempted demonstration in a charismatic and confident manner which results in praise and ego boosts, which re-trigger the grandiose thoughts and the cycle continues. Narcissistic rivalry (RIV): an exaggerated form of self-protection defined by devaluation of others (cognitive), striving for relative supremacy over others (affective-motivational), and an insensitive, hostile, and aggressive interpersonal style (behavioural) conducive to social conflict and status loss or challenge, especially dominance-/intimidation-based status. RIV also functions cyclically, with denigrating cognitions (e.g., "most people are idiots") resulting in a desire obtain relative status over others by 'putting them down' (i.e. perceiving, and attempting to show that others are inferior or inadequate). When these efforts fail (either by success of the "rival" or exposure of one's antagonism), hostility and rage follow, conferring aggressive and demeaning behaviours which confer conflict and ostracism, whereafter the individual denigrates others protect own ego, beginning the cycle anew. In this sense, Back et al. specifically suggest that ADM is healthy narcissism, while RIV is associated with more destructive features. To test their hypotheses, they developed the 18-item Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ) and a 6-item short version (NARQ-S) which assess the two faces of narcissism and their cognitive, affective-motivational and behavioural facets. All major aspects of the NARC have been empirically validated, with ADM showing consistently strong associations with high self-esteem, agentic extraversion, openness to experience, positive emotionality, and status, while RIV relates to unstable self-esteem, vulnerable narcissism, neuroticism, anger, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. This pattern of results is consistent with the suggestion ADM, the self-aggrandizing and charismatic facet, is a healthy form of narcissism. Even stronger evidence for ADM as healthy narcissism comes from suppressor effects and latent profile analyses. Specifically, when ADM and RIV are entered into regression models as predictors and their covariance is controlled for, ADM begins to show small-to-medium sized positive correlations with empathy, trust, forgiveness, gratitude and agreeableness, and shows inverse associations with narcissistic vulnerability and aggression (though it retains positive associations with entitlement and manipulativeness). Latent profile analysis, which allows for the detection specific groups or clusters of individuals based on their score across psychometric instruments, has found that individuals who score high on ADM but low on RIV show the highest self-esteem, empathy, and lowest psychopathy and impulsivity, even more so than individuals with low scores on both dimensions. A second group with moderate elevation on both facets showed the most maladaptive traits, while a fourth grouped yielded some evidence that very high levels of ADM may neutralise some of the destructive qualities of RIV. Historical and theoretical views Freud on normal narcissism Freud considered narcissism a natural part of the human makeup that, taken to extremes, prevents people from having meaningful relationships. He distinguished narcissism as "the libidinal complement to the egoism of the instinct of self-preservation". This self-preservation or desire and energy that drives one’s instinct to survive he referred to as a healthy trait termed primary narcissism. Paul Federn Paul Federn, an Austrian physician and psychoanalyst, and acolyte of Sigmund Freud introduced the concept of healthy narcissism in the 1930s. In 1928, he published "Narcissism in the Structure of the Ego," and in 1929 "The Ego as Subject and Object in Narcissism" (Das Ich als Subjekt und Objekt im Narzissmus). It was in these works that Federn introduced the concept of healthy narcissism to describe an adequate sense of self-love. Heinz Kohut on healthy narcissism Healthy narcissism was first conceptualized by Heinz Kohut, who used the descriptor "normal narcissism" and "normal narcissistic entitlement" to describe children's psychological development. Kohut's research showed that if early narcissistic needs could be adequately met, the individual would move on to what he called a "mature form of positive self-este.... 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