Suddenly, everyone is a narcissist. But the word is thrown around, and “grossly misused” argues Debbie Mirza, author of The Covert Passive Aggressive Narcissist: Recognising the Traits and Finding Healing. “People often use this word to describe someone who is selfish and arrogant,” but anyone who has experienced a true narcissist would never use the label so lightly, she says. Catriona Davis-McCabe, a counselling psychologist and president of the Australian Psychological Society, worries that the term has become normalised. “We often see it on the TV in reality programs where people will call a partner narcissistic, but they are not referring to Narcissistic Personality Disorder." Yet a formal diagnosis of narcissism remains "extremely rare" says Kelly Gough, a clinical psychologist and president of The Australian Psychologist Association Everything is about status." There is nothing wrong with a bit of healthy confidence and self-love, says Sydney psychologist Amanda Ferguson. "A really good, strong self-esteem and being proud of your success, a healthy ego, is a wonderful thing that you need to succeed in the world," she says. The problem, she argues, is "people now have social media access to everything, including AI, many think they can diagnose it". The diagnostic leap from being a bit selfish and chuffed with yourself to full-blown narcissism can be found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) – a book of mental health conditions and their diagnostic criteria used by psychologists and psychiatrists around the world. Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) has a lifetime prevalence of about 7.7 per cent of men and 4.8 per cent of women