If you searched for types of narcissists, you have probably found lists of five, of seven, sometimes of twelve. They tend to be presented with the confidence of a clinical manual.
They are not. It is worth starting there, because it changes how to use the rest.
What the research supports with solid evidence are two presentations: the grandiose and the vulnerable. The “covert”, which is probably the term that brought you here, is not a third type, it is another name for the vulnerable one. The longer lists mix these two with descriptions that come from clinical practice, the personality literature, and, often, internet content. If you do not yet have the general picture, it is in what narcissism is.
This does not make the descriptions useless. It only makes them descriptions, and not diagnostic categories. It is a difference that matters when you are trying to understand someone real.
Key points
- The research supports two main presentations: grandiose (or overt) and vulnerable (or covert)
- “Covert narcissist” is a synonym for vulnerable, not a separate type
- Lists of five or seven types are editorial and clinical descriptions, not categories of the diagnostic manual
- One person can show traits of both forms, and the presentation can shift with context and moment
- None of this allows you to diagnose anyone. It serves to describe patterns with more precision
On this page
- Grandiose narcissist
- Vulnerable narcissist
- Covert narcissist
- Narcissism in the relationship
- How to protect yourself without diagnosing
- Frequently asked questions
- About the author
Grandiose narcissist
This is the image almost everyone has when they hear the word.
The person speaks of themselves easily, takes up space, and tends to react badly when attention goes elsewhere. From the outside, the impression is of excess confidence.
The literature describes this presentation as overt or grandiose: someone who appears arrogant, pretentious, and dominant (Yakeley, 2018).
What this posture tends to be sustaining is less obvious. Research treats pathological narcissism as a problem of self-esteem regulation (Pincus and Lukowitsky, 2010): the person depends on external sources to keep a stable image of themselves. In the grandiose presentation, the strategy is to seek these sources actively, taking up space and claiming recognition.
It is also the easiest presentation to spot, and so the least confusing in practical terms: nobody lives with this pattern for years without noticing. What usually keeps the person in place is not the doubt about what is happening, but everything that has already been built around the relationship.
Vulnerable narcissist
Here the surface is opposite and the centre is the same.
Instead of arrogance, excessive sensitivity. Instead of dominant posture, insecurity, defensiveness and anxiety. The literature describes this presentation as vulnerable or covert: someone who comes across as hypersensitive, insecure, defensive and anxious (Yakeley, 2018).
The self-centred organisation is still there. It just does not announce itself. The person’s needs continue to structure the relationship, but through fragility, hurt and complaint instead of direct imposition.
This distinction organises a good part of the research on pathological narcissism. The authors of that review propose exactly that the two themes be incorporated into diagnostic criteria and assessment instruments (Pincus and Lukowitsky, 2010).
The difference in strategy explains the difference in surface. If the grandiose presentation seeks recognition by claiming it, the vulnerable one gets it through another route: hurt, disappointment, the constant feeling of not being considered enough. The practical effect is similar, because in both cases the relationship ends up organised around keeping their self-esteem stable.
From the inside, this is by far the hardest one. You do not feel that you are dealing with someone arrogant. You feel that you are always owing something. And guilt is harder to name than arrogance, because it feels like the fault is yours.
Covert narcissist
This is the term that circulates the most, and it is where the confusion sets in.
Covert narcissist is not a third type: it is what the vulnerable presentation came to be known as outside the literature. Inside it the two terms appear as equivalents, written side by side as “vulnerable or covert” (Yakeley, 2018).
| Grandiose (overt) | Vulnerable (covert) | |
|---|---|---|
| How it shows up | Arrogance, superiority, dominance | Sensitivity, insecurity, defensiveness |
| How they seek recognition | By claiming it, by taking up space | Through hurt and the feeling of being undervalued |
| What it feels like alongside | Wear, visible conflict | Guilt, a debt that is hard to name |
| How long it takes to recognise | Usually quickly | Usually years |
Worth clearing up the confusion explicitly because it has practical consequences. If you believe there are three separate categories, you try to fit someone into one of them and conclude they fit none. If you understand they are two presentations that can alternate in the same person, depending on context and moment, the description becomes useful.
What about the other types on the lists? Some have clinical or academic origins. Malignant narcissism comes from the psychoanalytic literature, developed above all by Otto Kernberg (Severe Personality Disorders, Yale University Press, 1984), and describes a picture in which narcissistic traits appear combined with aggression and antisocial traits.
A caveat, because this word tends to alarm: if what you are living involves intimidation or fear, that stops being a question of nomenclature. In the UK, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 and Samaritans on 116 123 are free and operate 24 hours. Communal narcissism was proposed by personality researchers (Gebauer and colleagues, 2012) to describe people who pursue exactly the same motives of grandiosity and recognition, but on the terrain of goodness and helping instead of performance.
These are descriptions with real utility. What none of them is: a category in the DSM-5-TR, the diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Association, which does not subdivide narcissistic personality disorder into types. When an internet list puts five types side by side, with the same weight, it is mixing very different levels of evidence without telling you.
Narcissism in the relationship
A short note, because this subject has its own page.
The practical difference between the two presentations is not so much what the person feels as what they produce in those around them. The grandiose presentation tends to generate wear and visible conflict. The vulnerable one tends to generate guilt, and guilt is harder to name than conflict.
Both produce the same background effect: your version of the facts keeps losing space.
For the general picture, see what narcissism is.
How to protect yourself without diagnosing
This whole page exists to describe better. No part of it exists to conclude.
A list of types is even less able to do that than an article, because it promises precision where only description exists. The criteria of the manual require a persistent pattern since early adulthood, present across different contexts and with real functional impairment, and none of that is assessed from outside the consultation room.
Three substitutions that work better than the label:
Replace the category with the description. Instead of “he is a covert narcissist”, something like “when I disagree, the conversation becomes about how hurt he was”. The second one is verifiable; the first is not.
Replace the question. Instead of “what is he?”, ask “what is the coexistence doing to me?”. The second you can answer with information you have.
Replace the target. Labels exist to explain the other person. Limits exist to protect you, and they do not depend on any diagnosis being right.
If you want to understand how therapeutic support works in this kind of situation, see how the process works.
Frequently asked questions
How many types of narcissism exist?
It depends on who answers, and that is the honest answer. Research supports two presentations: grandiose and vulnerable. The DSM-5-TR does not subdivide the disorder into types. The lists of five, seven or twelve combine those two with clinical and popular descriptions of variable value. None of them is an official classification.
Is covert narcissist the same thing as vulnerable?
Yes. They are two names for the same presentation, and the literature uses them as equivalents. “Covert” is the term that spread most online; “vulnerable” is the one most used in research.
Which is the hardest type to identify?
The vulnerable presentation, by a margin. It does not match the image people have of narcissism, and those who live with the person tend to interpret the pattern as fragility that needs care. Recognition usually takes years.
Can one person be more than one type?
Yes, and this is one of the best reasons not to treat this as boxes. The same person can show grandiose traits in one context and vulnerable ones in another, or shift over time. If you are trying to pick a box and none fits, the problem is probably the box.
About the author
Fabio Morus is a behavioural therapist and hypnotherapist in Jersey, Channel Islands, focusing on anxiety, phobias, and panic disorder. He trained in Neuro-Systemic Hypnotherapy (Brazilian Institute of Hypnosis), CBT (Beck Institute), and EMDR (EMDR Association UK), and holds a Master’s in Addiction Studies. He sees clients online in Portuguese and English, and in person in Jersey. See the full training on the About page.
This content is informational and does not substitute clinical assessment, diagnosis, or professional treatment. Nothing here allows you to diagnose another person. CBT and hypnotherapy outcomes vary by person and context.
