From Gym to Screen: The Convergence of Sport Addiction, Online Sex Work, and Social Media Compulsion in Narcissistic Personality Disorder

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_10How to use a DOI?

Keywords

sport addiction; online sex work; social media compulsion; person- ality disorder

Abstract

Persistent patterns of grandiosity typify Narcissistic Personality Dis- order (NPD), the necessity for admiration and limited empathy. In the digital age, individuals with NPD may gravitate towards behavioral addictions that reinforce their idealized self-image, such as compulsive physical training, social media engagement, and digital sex work. These behaviors may serve to regulate fragile self-esteem and avoid emotional vulnerability. The subject’s compulsive behaviors in fitness, digital sexual performance, and social media revealed a shared function of affirming grandiose self-perception. Each domain offered specific re- inforcements—appearance, erotic admiration, and public visibility—functioning as defensive mechanisms against deep-seated feelings of shame, worthlessness, and identity instability. This case highlights the convergence of digital behaviors and narcissistic defenses in a female patient with NPD. Effective treatment must integrate developmental, cognitive-affective, and sociocultural perspectives, focusing on early maladaptive schemas, emotional regulation, and the contextual function of digital expressions.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Rachman Aziz
AU  - Elmeida Effendy
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/25
TI  - From Gym to Screen: The Convergence of Sport Addiction, Online Sex Work, and Social Media Compulsion in Narcissistic Personality Disorder
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Neuroscience, Neurology, and Psychiatry 2025 (ICONAP 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 59
EP  - 64
SN  - 2468-5739
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_10
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_10
ID  - Aziz2025
ER  -