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Robert is joined by author, Integral philosophy teacher, and 40+ year veteran psychotherapist Dr. Keith Witt to explore a topic that is sometimes considered a “four letter word” in today’s culture—narcissism. Though typically thought of in narrowly defined terms, Dr. Keith Witt helps broaden our perspective through various lenses: historical, political, psychological, and Integral/developmental. Discover how there is both a narcissist and a wise self in all of us. Warning: this episode goes down some intellectual rabbit-holes as we Integral theory geeks tend to do.

Some of the topics we explore include:

- The Roman poet Ovid’s original portrayal of Narcissus

- Narcissistic traits vs. Narcissistic Personality Disorder

- The Trump phenomenon

- Authoritarian systems and narcissism

- Practices for authentic self-love

- The importance of having a sense of humour

Show notes:

1:49 - Introducing Dr. Keith Witt

4:28 - Ovid’s story of Narcissus

6:42 - Freud turns psychology into a science

10:03 - The introduction of the term “narcissism”

12:18 - Everything is relationships

15:13 - A limited number of therapy sessions with narcissists

18:54 - The difference between narcissistic traits and NPD

20:15 - The introduction of shame in children and regulation

22:14 - The Jean Piaget experiment for cognitive development

23:58 - All cultures have hierarchies

25:32 - Historical timeline of how humans developed self-awareness

27:48 - Historical figures throughout time who looked at the world through an Integral lens

29:15 - There is an epidemic of how we relate with mental illnesses

31:39 - Integral theory and Spiral Dynamics: Tribal

33:50 - Authoritarian systems and narcissism

34:43 - The Trump phenomenon

39:38 - How narcissism gets internalized at different stages of development

45:15 - Keith’s journey of learning about psychology

47:53 - The biggest blindspot in modern business is middle-management

49:24 - Regulation and the rock star/child celebrity example

52:32 - Service is one of the main vehicles out of narcissism

55:10 - Recovering from the addiction of narcissism

57:22 - Extreme opportunities to re-author self after traumatic events

1:01:25 - We are social beings

1:00:54 - Covert narcissism

1:02:34 - The importance of having a sense of humour, “hurts more, bothers us less”

1:04:47 - Using projection to help narcissists grow

1:05:24 - Looking in the mirror at both our strengths and weaknesses

1:06:04 - Different lines of development

1:06:50 - Maturity around protecting good, true, and beautiful assets like language

1:10:24 - There’s a wise self in all of us

1:11:07 - Giving feedback in a plus/delta format, focusing on strengths as well as weaknesses

Dr Keith Witt is a licensed clinical psychologist, lecturer and author dedicated to studying, teaching, and creating transformative healing systems. He’s been practicing psychotherapy in Santa Barbara, California for over 40 years, where he’s conducted over 55,000 therapy sessions with individuals, couples, and groups. Find his books, trainings, and more here: https://drkeithwitt.com/