Sam Vaknin

Vaknin was born in Kiryat Yam, Israel, the eldest of five children born to Sephardi Jewish immigrants. Vaknin's mother was from Turkey, and his father, a construction worker, was from Morocco. He describes a difficult childhood, in which he writes that his parents "were ill-equipped to deal with normal children, let alone the gifted".{{cite news|first=Yvonne|last=Roberts|url=http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/articles2439812.ece|title=The monster in the mirror|newspaper=The Sunday Times|date=September 16, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615170145/http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article2439812.ece|archive-date=June 15, 2011}}

He left home to serve in the Israel Defense Forces from 1979 to 1982 in training and education units. Between 1980 and 1983 he founded a chain of computerized information kiosks in Tel Aviv, and in 1982 worked for the Nessim D. Gaon Group in Geneva, Paris, and New York City.

In the mid-1980s, he became aware of difficulties in his relationship with his fiancée, and that he had mood swings. In 1985 he sought help from a psychiatrist, who diagnosed him with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Vaknin did not accept the diagnosis.

From 1986 to 1987, he was the general manager of IPE Ltd. in London. He moved back to Israel, where he became director of an Israeli investment firm, Mikbatz Teshua. He was also president of the Israeli chapter of the Unification Church's Professors for World Peace Academy.Curriculum Vitae http://samvak.tripod.com/cv.html

In Israel, in 1995, he was found guilty on three counts of securities fraud along with two other men, Nissim Avioz and Dov Landau. He was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment and fined 50,000 shekels (about $14,000), while the company was fined 100,000 shekels.{{cite news|first= Jose|last= Rosenfeld |url= https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/62540612.html |title=Business Briefs|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|date=July 27, 1995}}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite news |first= Evelyn |last=Gordon|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/62554192.html |title= Supreme Court rejects appeal of three stock manipulators |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=June 14, 1996}}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} In 1996, as a condition of parole, he agreed to a mental health evaluation, which noted various personality disorders. According to Vaknin: "I was borderline, schizoid, but the most dominant was NPD," and on this occasion he accepted the diagnosis, because, he wrote, "it was a relief to know what I had."{{cite news|first=Adrian|last=Tempany|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5ff67be2-b636-11df-a784-00144feabdc0.html|title=When narcissism becomes pathological|newspaper=Financial Times|date=September 4, 2010}}

Vaknin moved to Skopje, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia), where he married Macedonian Lidija Rangelovska. They set up Narcissus Publications in 1997, which publishes Vaknin's work.Vaknin, Sam. [http://samvak.tripod.com/thebook.html "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited"], samvak.tripod.com, accessed October 30, 2010. Between 2001 and 2003, Vaknin was a Senior Business Correspondent for United Press International.UPI Sam Vaknin Author Archive https://www.upi.com/search?ss=%22SAM+VAKNIN%22{{cite web|first=Sam|last=Vaknin|url=http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021004-022749-5949r|title=Commentary: The morality of Child labor|agency=United Press International|date=October 4, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050315085214/http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021004-022749-5949r|archive-date=March 15, 2005|accessdate=October 30, 2010}} He has also written for Central Europe Review about political issues in the Balkans,{{cite web|website=Central Europe Review|title=Author Archive: Articles by Sam Vaknin|url=https://www.pecina.cz/files/www.ce-review.org/authorarchives/vaknin_archive/vaknin_main.html|accessdate=December 22, 2020}} as well as for the Middle East Times.{{cite magazine|first=Sam|last=Vaknin|url=http://metimes.com/2K3/issue2003-15/opin/axis_of_oil.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030430012121/http://metimes.com/2K3/issue2003-15/opin/axis_of_oil.htm|archive-date=April 30, 2003|title=The 'axis of oil'|magazine=Middle East Times|date=April 3, 2003|accessdate=October 30, 2010}} Until a few weeks before the September 2002 Macedonian election, he served as an adviser to Macedonia's Ministry of Finance. He writes regularly for other publications, such as the International Analyst Network,{{cite web|url=http://www.analyst-network.com/profile.php?user_id=79|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111028231058/http://www.analyst-network.com/profile.php?user_id=79|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-10-28|title=Profiles: Dr. Sam Vaknin|website=International Analyst Network|accessdate=April 6, 2024}} Brussels Morning,{{cite web|url=https://brusselsmorning.com/author/sam-vaknin/|title=Author Archive: Sam Vaknin|website=Brussels Morning|accessdate=April 6, 2024}} and the online American Chronicle.{{cite web|url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/941|title=Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.|date=February 26, 2013|website=American Chronicle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130227015619/http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/941|archive-date=February 27, 2013}}

Vaknin was a visiting professor at Southern Federal University in Rostov Oblast, Russia in 2017–22{{cite web|url=http://samvak.tripod.com/sfuprof.pdf|title=Letter of Appointment Southern Federal University|website=samvak.tripod.com|accessdate=April 6, 2024|language=Russian}} holding a course of lectures there on personality theory.{{cite web|url=http://app.sfedu.ru/node/927|title=Southern Federal University website|accessdate=April 6, 2024|language=Russian}} He is also a professor of management and a professor of psychology in the Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS) in Nigeria, Canada and the United Kingdom.{{cite web|url=https://ciaps.org/faculty/sam-vaknin/|title=CIAPS faculty: Sam Vaknin|website=ciaps.org|accessdate=April 6, 2024}} He is a visiting professor of psychology and economics in South East European University in North Macedonia.{{cite web|url=https://www.seeu.edu.mk/en/information/news-events?id=2789|title=Prof. Sam Vaknin is appointed to lecture as a visiting professor at SEEU|website=www.seeu.edu.mk|accessdate=September 27, 2024}}

Vaknin served as a founding member of the Steering Committee for the Advancement of Healthcare in the Republic of North Macedonia between 2009-2011.ECDC Mission Report https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/media/en/publications/Publications/1001_MIR_Public_consultation_advancement_health_system_FYROM.pdf Vaknin is a member of the Board of Advisors of CFACT Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. CFACT Board of Advisors https://www.cfact.org/about/#directors

Vaknin and his wife, Lidija Rangelovska, established in 2024 the Vaknin-Rangelovska Foundation which distributes grants to further the study of Vaknin's work in psychology, economics, and physics.Vaknin-Rangelovska Foundation https://www.vrfoundation.net

Vaknin has a prolific online presence, writing on narcissism and psychopathy.[http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com/ Sam Vaknin website] His views have been solicited by the media.{{cite news |url= http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/01/life.after.reality.tv/ |title=Reality bites after the lights go out |first=Lisa Respers|last=France|date=February 2, 2011|work=CNN|access-date=6 February 2011}}

In his view, narcissists have lost their "true self", the core of their personality, which has been replaced by delusions of grandeur, a "false self". Therefore, he believes, they cannot be healed, because they do not exist as real persons, only as reflections: "The False Self replaces the narcissist's True Self and is intended to shield him from hurt and narcissistic injury by self-imputing omnipotence… The narcissist pretends that his False Self is real and demands that others affirm this confabulation."{{cite web|first=Sam|last=Vaknin|url=http://samvak.tripod.com/faq48.html|title=The Dual Role of the Narcissist's False Self|website=samvak.tripod.com|accessdate=April 6, 2024}} The false self is, according to him, an unreal facade or cover that a narcissist shows to the world which involves what the narcissist intends to be seen as - powerful, elegant, smart, wealthy, or well-connected. This false self is subsequently projected to elicit a constant stream of attention or narcissistic supply from others, which may consist of reactions to this projected false self.

Vaknin extends the concept of narcissistic supply and introduces concepts such as primary and secondary narcissistic supply.Vaknin, Sam [http://samvak.tripod.com/faq76.html Narcissists, Narcissistic Supply and Sources of Supply] Both positive attention and negative attention ("sadistic supply") can serve as narcissistic supply.Vaknin, Sam [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFyPWQggAiA Narcissistic vs. Sadistic Supply]

Primary narcissistic supply is based on attention in both its public forms such as recognition, fame, infamy, stardom, and its private, more interpersonal, types of praise, admiration, applause, fear, and repulsion. Primary narcissistic supply represents attention of any kind–positive or negative. Appearances qualify more than the content; it is not the truth that matters, but their perception of it. Therefore, as long as they receive the expected reaction or attention that they had projected through their false self, the connotation attached to it is inconsequential.{{Cite web |title=Narcissists, Narcissistic Supply and Sources of Supply |url=https://samvak.tripod.com/faq76.html |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=samvak.tripod.com}}

Secondary narcissistic supply refers to the reinforcement a narcissist derives from projecting an image of success, security, and social acceptability. This includes financial stability, upward mobility, and the perception of living a fulfilling life. Sources of secondary narcissistic supply may include having a partner, owning significant property, engaging in creative pursuits, running a business, experiencing a sense of personal freedom, belonging to a community, achieving professional recognition, displaying wealth, or otherwise signaling status.

Triggers of narcissistic supply are stimuli that provoke sources into providing validation, reinforcing the narcissist’s False Self. Publicity—whether through fame, notoriety, or infamy—is a key trigger, as it compels others to pay attention, thereby fueling the narcissist’s need for recognition. Other triggers include an air of mystery, sexual validation, and proximity to power, whether political, financial, military, or spiritual. Narcissists actively seek out these triggers through self-promotion, creative endeavors, or provocative actions, ensuring a continuous flow of attention. Since both admiration and hostility serve as validation, they may embrace controversy or infamy as readily as praise, prioritizing perception over reality.

He distinguishes between cerebral and somatic narcissists; the former generate their narcissistic supply by applying their minds, the latter their bodies. According to Vaknin, cerebral narcissists display their intellectual abilities and knowledge ostentatiously, while giving their bodies little importance, often to the point of the body being utterly devalued. Somatic narcissists, on the other hand, focus on areas related to the body, such as appearance and sexual abilities. Attention and sexual conquest are in his view the narcissistic supply which upholds the cerebral narcissist's favorable body-image. However, Vaknin claims that narcissists switch between these two modes of acquiring narcissistic supply, particularly as a result of threat or damage to the erstwhile mode. He considers himself a cerebral narcissist.Vaknin, Sam [http://samvak.tripod.com/cerebralsomatic.html The Cerebral vs. the Somatic Narcissist]

Vaknin suggests that narcissists and their intimate partners regard each other as introjected, idealized maternal figures ("snapshotting"Vaknin, Sam [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa1MT00BNw8 Why Narcissist Snapshots YOU]) in a shared fantasy and attempt to re-enact early childhood dynamics in their relationships, in what he dubs a "dual mothership".Vaknin, Sam [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CesOO1R2YbI How Narcissist Betrays You to Become Himself] He believes that disproportionate numbers of pathological narcissists are at work in the most influential reaches of society, such as medicine, finance and politics as a manifestation of growing collective narcissism.Collective Narcissism: Narcissism, Culture, and Society https://web.archive.org/web/20021014112738/http://samvak.tripod.com/14.html He observes that narcissists possess "cold empathy" (cognitive and reflexive).Vaknin, Sam [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxJuR7oltEM Arrested Empathy: Instinctual, Emotional Cognitive, and Cold Empathy]

He calls narcissistic co-dependents "inverted narcissists."Vaknin, Sam [http://samvak.tripod.com/faq66.html The Inverted Narcissist] "[They] provide the narcissist with an obsequious, unthreatening audience… the perfect backdrop."{{cite book |last=Crompton |first=Simon |title=All About Me: Loving a Narcissist |date=2007 |publisher=HarperCollins UK |isbn=9780007585977 |location=London, England |page=31}} He postulated the existence of a type of narcissistic borderline he dubbed covert borderline.Vaknin, Sam [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i-BzCKdzSU Psychopathic, Covert Borderlines (Literature Review)]

In 2022, Vaknin proposed a theory of psychodynamics, Intrapsychic Activation Model (IPAM), which involves self-states that trigger constructs and introjects and are reactive to stimuli emanating from both the internal and the external changing environments. Journal of Psychiatry and Neurology [https://www.maplespub.com/article/intrapsychic-activation-model-ipam IPAM (Intrapsychic Activation Model)]Vaknin, Sam [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTfpJ3RHf7g Decode, Heal Your Mind with IPAM (Intrapsychic Activation Model) (Conference Presentation)]

Vaknin developed a new treatment modality for narcissism and depression, dubbed "Cold Therapy".[https://web.archive.org/web/20200810055829/http://www.perspecteva.at/wp-contentuploads201705cold-therapy-warmly-recommended-pdf/ "Cold Therapy, Warmly Recommended"], condensed and translated from German. It is based on recasting pathological narcissism as a form of CPTSD (Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) and arrested development, which result in an addictive personality with a dysfunctional attachment style. The therapy uses re-traumatization and a form of reframing.[http://samvak.tripod.com/faq77.html Narcissism: Treatment Modalities and Therapies]{{cite journal|first=Sam|last=Vaknin|url=http://www.opastonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/cold-therapy-and-narcissistic-disorders-of-the-self-jcrc-18.pdf|title=Cold Therapy and Narcissistic Disorders of the Self|journal=Journal of Clinical Review & Case Reports|date=6 August 2018}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20200810054351/http://www.perspecteva.at/wp-contentuploads201702cold-therapy-gesamter-text-pdf/ German language introduction to Cold Therapy]

A model of quantised time was proposed by Vaknin in his 1982 Ph.D. dissertation, titled "Time Asymmetry Revisited".Pacific Western University, available on Microfiche in UMI and from the Library of Congress http://lccn.loc.gov/85133690 The dissertation was published by Pacific Western University (California). The dissertation submitted postulates the existence of a particle (chronon). In the proposed theory, time is the result of the interaction of chronons, very much as other forces in nature are the result of other particle interactions. Vaknin postulates the existence of various time quarks (up, down, colors, etc.) whose properties cancel each other and thus the arrow of time is derived (time asymmetry). The postulated particle (chronon) is not only an ideal clock, but also mediates time itself (analogous to the relationship between the Higgs boson and mass). In other words, what we call "time" is the interaction between chronons in a field. Chronons exchange between them a particle and thereby exert a force. "Events" are perturbations in the Time Field and they are distinct from chronon interactions. Chronon interactions (particle exchanges) in the Time Field generate "time" and "time asymmetry" as we observe them.Journal of Physics: Conference Series Electro-gravity via geometric chronon field https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/845/1/012019/metaCornell University ArXiv.org Physics Electro-gravity via Geometric Chronon Field and on the Origin of Mass https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.05244

• In 2007, Vaknin appeared in the episode "Egomania" of the British Channel 4 documentary series Mania.
• In 2009, he was the subject of an Australian documentary film, I, Psychopath, directed by Ian Walker. In the movie, Vaknin underwent a psychological evaluation in which he met the criteria for psychopathy according to the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, but did not meet the criteria for narcissism.Woolaston, Sam [http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2006710,00.html "Last night's TV"], The Guardian, February 6, 2007.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090330220408/http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/wilddocs/2009/psychopath/index.html "I, Psychopath"], CBC, May 25, 2009.{{cite news |url= http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/brain-scan-20100325-qxqf.html |title=Brain scan |first=Conrad|last=Walters|work= Sydney Morning Herald |date=March 25, 2010 |access-date=23 April 2011}}
• In 2016, Vaknin appeared in the documentary How Narcissists Took Over the World produced by Vice Media.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGO2U1thFAk How Narcissists Took Over the World] Vice Media 12 September 2016
• In 2019, Vaknin appeared in the online documentary Plugged-in: The True Toxicity of Social Media Revealed produced by Richard Grannon.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHzwMLx-rKc Plugged-in: The True Toxicity of Social Media Revealed]

• Requesting my Loved One (Bakasha me-Isha Ahuva) published by Yedioth Aharonot Miskal, Tel-Aviv, 1997{{Cite book|url=http://lccn.loc.gov/97826249|lccn = 97826249|isbn = 9789654483414|title = Baḳashah me-ishah ahuvah|series = Prozah|year = 1997|last1 = ואקנין|first1 = שמואל}}
• (with Nikola Gruevski) Macedonian Economy on a Crossroads. Skopje, NIP Noval Literatura, 1998. {{ISBN|9989-610-01-0}}Project Gutenberg - [http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/v#a2702 books by Sam Vaknin]
• Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited. Narcissus Publications, Prague, 1999. {{ISBN|978-80-238-3384-3}}
• After the Rain: How the West Lost the East. Narcissus Publications, in association with Central Europe Review/CEENMI, 2000. {{ISBN|80-238-5173-X}}[https://www.pecina.cz/files/www.ce-review.org/authorarchives/vaknin_archive/aftertherain.html Central Europe Review] Accessed December 22, 2020

{{Reflist}}

• {{Gutenberg author|id=2702}}
• [https://calmu.academia.edu/SamVaknin Sam Vaknin's Academia.edu page and works]
• [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Yj7C8wOP-10J&hl=en Sam Vaknin citations in Google scholar]
• [http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com/freebooks.html Free e-books and anthologies of essays by Sam Vaknin]
• [http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com/mediakit.html Academic papers, conference presentations, and media interviews by Sam Vaknin]
• [https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/search?amode=start&author=Vaknin%2c%20Samuel University of Pennsylvania Online Books Page online books by Sam Vaknin]
• [https://www.loc.gov/books/?all=true&q=Samuel+Vaknin Sam Vaknin's books in the Library of Congress]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaknin, Sam}}

Category:1961 births

Category:Living people

Category:Israeli journalists

Category:Israeli non-fiction writers

Category:Israeli poets

Category:Israeli expatriates in North Macedonia

Category:Narcissism writers

Category:People with borderline personality disorder

Category:People with narcissistic personality disorder

Category:People with schizoid personality disorder

Category:Israeli people of Sephardi descent

Category:People from Kiryat Yam