New study finds you might be a narcissist if you have this specific mentality

If you've ever thought you might be a narcissist, thankfully, you don't have to wonder that alone as there's a new study that suggests a specific mentality could prove that you may very well be.

Psychotherapist Kathleen Saxton previously explained how a staggering 10-15 percent of the world's population have shown narcissistic tendencies at some point in their life.

There's also people that have narcissistic personality disorder, which is a mental health condition in which 'people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance', according to Mayo Clinic.

Health experts say that individuals with the condition seek attention, as well as lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others.

Away from the diagnosed condition, a new study has concluded that 'victim mentality' is strongly linked to that of narcissistic personality traits.

10-15 percent of the world's population have shown narcissistic tendencies (Getty Stock Photo)

After monitoring 400 people, experts found that people who regularly perceive themselves as victims and let their nearest and dearest know about this status could well be displaying narcissistic tendencies.

While it's obviously completely understandable to act in such way if you've been through genuine trauma, experts in the study note that the majority of people in their findings were doing so for validation purposes.

This is known as Tendency for Interpersonal Victimhood, experts have said.

Theresia Bedard of Lakehead University and lead author of the study said: "I had some encounters with individuals that seemed to have a ‘victim mentality,’ and had the impression that they were very self-absorbed and self-centered. Then, when I came to Lakehead for my PhD I learned about the Tendency for Interpersonal Victimhood from the second author.

Narcissistic behaviours may be staring you in the face (Getty Stock Photo)

"I noticed that the Tendency for Interpersonal Victimhood described these people who seemed to have a ‘victim mentality’ very well. Then, I had did one of my comprehensive exams on vulnerable and grandiose narcissism, which I realized that vulnerable narcissism seemed to have a lot of conceptual overlap with the Tendency for Interpersonal Victimhood."

The researcher went on to say that once she'd encountered people with 'victim mentality', she was able to collaborate the results with her colleagues at Lakehead University.

The 400 people involved in the study, aged between 18 and 71, were provided with a series of assessments looking into their physiological behaviour.

From this, researchers were able to measure participants' level of 'victim mentality', alongside other findings.

And in the end, they uncovered that the Tendency for Interpersonal Victimhood is strongly related to traits of a narcissist.