Books

 In 2007, my first book was published – a book about narcissistic personalities, which embraced the cultural, scientific and psychological. Entitled "All About Me: loving a narcissist", it incorporated personal accounts of living with and being a narcissistic personality, with analysis of exactly why people become narcissistic and the forces encouraging narcissism in our society.

The agony aunt Bel Mooney wrote in the Daily Mail: "All About Me by Simon Crompton (Collins, £8.99) is an entertainingly intelligent read which raises serious questions about the kind of people we identify as "me-centred" narcissists." She drew attention to the checklists in the book, and recommended the chapter on what creates a narcissist.

On the right, you'll find a link into two articles I wrote for The Times based on the book. If you want to order the book, go to Amazon.com. You can hear me talking about it at Psychojourney.libsyn.com

I'm now working on my second book, a novel based on real, but previously ignored, events in Victorian England. It's about conspiracy, poisoning and blackmail surrounding a controversial medical museum, and the fight for supremacy between quacks and "legitimate" doctors. It's a story with real relevance for us today.

Dark lords of love

Is your man an emotional vampire? In the second extract from his book on narcissism, Simon Crompton explains why good girls fall for bad guys

Why do some women always go for bounders? Because they’re programmed to fall in love with narcissists – men who are glamorous, self-centred, difficult, intensely vulnerable . . . and who push all the right romantic buttons.

Narcissism is a personality type – recognised by psychiatrists and psychoanalysts – that goes far beyond vanity. In America the word is now commonly used to describe men who might, 20 years ago, have simply been called “bastards”. But the idea of narcissism describes something about human nature far more specific and interesting than that.

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