Do narcissistic subtypes really exist? An ongoing debate

Narcissistic pathology is a topic of great interest for both researchers and clinicians nowadays. A growing body of research has investigated pathological narcissism to understand its nature and to reach a comprehensive definition of such personality pathology. We revised empirical and theoretical literature on pathological narcissism to show how its conceptualizations have changed over time. Also, we presented which objectives have been reached by experts in narcissism in the attempt to univocally define the phenomenon in recent times. Finally, we highlighted which aspects of the definition of narcissistic pathology are still not clear and remain the subject of debates at present.