Reinhard Haller
Forensic psychiatrist, neurologist and author from Austria
"Silence can trigger a lot in other people: feelings of bad conscience, guilt, humility, of being worthless"
Professor Haller, how can I recognize early on that I am dealing with a pronounced narcissist?
These people perceive everything from a first-person perspective. A car trip from Hamburg to Hanover is reported as if it was an expedition into the heart of Africa in the 17th century. With regard to their own person, they have almost no ability to reflect and relate. And they often spread a certain aura around them. You feel somehow guilty, inferior and in a certain way obliged to this person. This is the power narcissists work with.
At the same time, they are extremely sensitive and ailing, and they let you feel that, for example through ostentatious silence. In doing so, they exercise gigantic power. Silence can trigger a lot in other people: feelings of bad conscience, guilt, humility, of being worthless. Because when a person shows himself offended in this way, you automatically think that you have done something wrong. You don't know what, but something must have happened. Many people who have dealt with narcissists on a partnership or professional basis have reported persistent feelings of guilt.
You can find the entire interview with Reinhard Haller in our book:
To person
Reinhard Haller (born 1951) is an Austrian psychiatrist, psychotherapist and neurologist. The medical student completed his habilitation in psychiatry at the University of Innsbruck in 1994. The focus of his work was initially on addiction research. As a psychiatric court expert, however, he increasingly dealt with the evil in people. He wrote, among other things, reports on Tim K., who shot 15 people and himself during his school rampage in Winnenden, and on the serial killer Jack Unterweger. Haller has authored numerous books, including "The Narcissus Trap" (ecowin) and currently "The Miracle of Appreciation"
"Evil: The Psychology of Human Destructiveness" (Ecowin Verlag)
Spectacular crimes, horrific atrocities - the forensic psychiatrist Reinhard Haller went in search of the roots of evil. For thousands of hours in prison he sat facing serious criminals, armed only with a notepad and pen: sexual killers and serial killers, terrorists, robbers and young gunmen. They all told of their emotional states, their relationship with the victim, their life story and their current view of the crime. Haller gets an insight into the dark areas of the perpetrator psychology, as it is only granted to a few people. He puts different theories about evil in relation to the latest scientific findings from biology, theology, genetic research and psychiatry. The book is a new edition of the work »The whole normal evil« from 2009.