Daughter of Narcissus: A Family's Struggle to Survive Their Mother's Narcissistic Personality Disorder [Hardcover]

Lady Colin Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 2009

Daughter of Narcissus by Lady Colin Campbell is a stunning analysis and revelatory memoir of her own dysfunctional family positioned at the heart of upper class Jamaican society from the middle of the 20th century to the present day. Addressing the extreme narcissistic personality disorder of her mother, Georgie Campbell s latest book is both a personal, individual record and a penetrating study of this psychological disorder and how it affects and scars all members of the immediate family. Departing from her former studies of contemporary high society, Georgie Campbell has turned her intelligence and insight onto her own past, exposing the emotional truth beneath her family façade of class and privilege. The book interweaves private memories of her mother s destructive behaviour with a detailed analysis of the underlying realities and fantasies of the narcissistic personality. With disarming clarity and hard learnt wisdom, she shows us what motivates the behaviour sof the narcissistic female as she plots and schemes, destructively setting father against children, sibling against sibling and grand-parent against grand-child. The depth of her work can be seen in her inclusion of recent scientific/medial research on the subject, the extensive bibliography and her endorsement by the eminent Dr Anna Brocklebank, who has practised psychiatry and is the legal and medical adviser to the renowned Institute of Clinical Hypnosis. In addition the author interconnects the sociological, political and personal in startling ways. As she covers the end of the British Colonial Age and the rise of a new liberated generation in the 1960s and 1970s, she reveals how these cultural movements impinge on the dynamics and desires within the family Set against a backdrop of wealth and privilege, concealing the destructive and shocking behaviour of the disordered personality, Daughter of Narcissus is disarmingly honest, informed and sometimes disturbing. This compulsive book is not only a fascinating history of one socially prominent international family, but also a uniquely detailed study of narcissism, its manifestations and effects and how to survive them in order to lead a purposeful and affirming life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A penetrating and insightful examination of a serious subject in the form of a memoir which actually raises that medium to new heights. It will enhance the reader s life as much as it elevates the author s reputation, and will achieve the distinction of being a popular bestseller that also becomes a medical reference work. --Dr Anna Brocklebank, MD

About the Author

Lady Colin Campbell is a highly successful and prolific author of several books, including London and New York Times bestsellers, and for many years has been a prominent, sometimes confrontational figure in royal and social circles. She perhaps is best known for her international bestselling book Diana in Private, 1992, and her subsequent extended and revelatory biography of the Princess of Wales, The Real Diana published in 2004. Dedicated to exposing human truths and uncomfortable realities which are20often concealed or denied, she has often caused controversy within circles of influence and privilege. She has been a regular columnist and commentator herself, and appeared numerous times on TV and Radio in the UK and in the US as an experienced Royal Insider, expert on the British aristocracy and the lives of those who possess power and wealth. Born in St Andrew, Jamaica, she was educated there and in New York, where she lived for seven years. She is connected to British royalty through common ancestors and marriage. She has two sons and lives and works in London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Dynasty Press Ltd (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0955350735
• ISBN-13: 978-0955350733
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #920,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lady Colin Campbell is a highly successful and prolific author of several books, including London and New York Times bestsellers, and has been a prominent and often controversial figure in royal and social circles for many years. She perhaps is best known for her international bestselling book Diana in Private, 1992, and her subsequent extended and revelatory biography of the Princess of Wales, The Real Diana published in 2004. She has written books on the Royal Family, been a long term columnist and appeared numerous times on TV and Radio as an experienced Royal Insider and expert on the British aristocracy. In 1997 she published her autobiography, A Life Worth Living, which was serialised in The Daily Mail. Born in St Andrew, Jamaica, she was educated there and in New York, where she lived for seven years. She is connected to British royalty through common ancestors and marriage. She has two sons and lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging but troubling, March 12, 2010

By 

dnk "dnkboston" (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Daughter of Narcissus: A Family's Struggle to Survive Their Mother's Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Hardcover)

I was cool to this story when I first picked it up. The author comes from a moneyed, privileged family and was writing about a disorder that, on the face of it, seems to be more an affliction of that class than anything else. Also, the author's tone was cool and detached, and I wasn't sure how much sympathy I would be able to muster for her.

Then I read more. Truly, the adage that money doesn't buy happiness is borne out in this family's story. The author describes horrifying abuse suffered by all of the children in the family at the hands of their mother and the acquiescence of her weak- but explosive- father. Worse than the physical abuse was the psychological twisting and molding the mother subjected all of the children too. (However, it seems to have only strengthened the strong bonds between the siblings.)

In 2010, probably every single person has witnessed or heard enough about parental abuse that most stories of such might invite, sadly, a sigh or shrug rather than horror. What makes this account so much worse was that the author had what she refers to as a "birth defect" that caused her to be raised as a boy when she should have been raised as a girl. Her traditional, scandal-conscious father absolutely refused to authorize the operation that would have corrected this error, and her mother used this opportunity to play father off against child, while strengthening her position with both. I was horrified that a parent would allow their child to remain in, as the author puts it, "limbo" when it was easily within their means to change it. It was only when the author's kindly and generous grandmother and aunt stepped in to help that she was able to reclaim her identity- but even then, not without the mother taking the opportunity to profit from the event.

Although the parents were wealthy and esteemed, they refused to offer monetary assistance to their daughter, even when she was in desperate need of a divorce to exit an abusive and exploitative marriage. The author had to call on her own cleverness and intelligence to extricate herself from that as well as many other close calls one might depend on a family for. Ultimately, this may have been to her benefit- parents do not live forever- but that can be cold comfort.

As for the author's detached tone, I came to pity her as I read more. It seemed to be an outcome of having to cope with a mentally ill parent- the best defense to shield herself from getting pulled into the dramas where she would always be a supporting, tragic player, and one she had to use up until her mother's death.

The book explained and illustrated narcissism and sociopathy well. While narcissism may be expressed more freely in a pampered class, it also easy to see how other people could suffer from it as well. Certainly, the underlying emptiness she describes is easy to imagine in others (although more people might express it as depression). While I wouldn't use this as an authoritative personality disorder reference, it does invite further study of the topic.

I'm not sure I have any interest in the author's works on Princess Diana, but I would be interested in reading her other titles. Well written, with the right balance of detail and introspection.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing exploration of a serious personal problem, November 21, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daughter of Narcissus: A Family's Struggle to Survive Their Mother's Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Hardcover)

To be entirely obsessed with oneself is an addiction, and it can destroy lives just like any other. "Daughter of Narcissus" is an observation of narcissism, from the perspective of a family member. Colin Campbell shows the impact of narcissism, something that she has noticed has taken a strong occurrence of infecting the upper and middle classes of the world, leaving them forgetting what's truly important. "Daughter of Narcissus" is an intriguing exploration of a serious personal problem.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Been there myself without the money, August 16, 2011

By 

S. D. Horais (Grand Rapids MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Daughter of Narcissus: A Family's Struggle to Survive Their Mother's Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Hardcover)

Though I knew my mother was NPD in the late 80s, so little is known that I had almost no tangible information about the disorder. Lady Colin's willingness to talk about the subject and to do so with knowledge was a great help. The reference works she cites in the bibliography gives the reader a path to take to learn more, an additional help. As for the detachment noted by another reviewer, I understand how you might feel but, believe me, it's the only way to deal with this kind of thing.