Can we debunk the argument that narcissism is on the rise simply because it has been bubbling away for so long? Maybe not. If narcissism is an epidemic, the disease was born somewhere. "It would spread slowly at first, and then, after finding new methods of transmission – in this case, the internet and social media, probably – it would move quickly, reaching everyone at once," wrote Jia Tolentino in The New Yorker in 2016. In the last few years, I feel like I have heard the term on a near-daily basis. This makes sense when you consider the political slide to the right and the characters who govern in the Western world. Donald Trump and Boris Johnson seem to epitomise the lack of empathy and wild self-regard that fit with what the NPI tells us narcissism looks like. Indeed, the checklist has gone viral several times in reference to Trump.