Thursday, January 29, 2004
Ya mean it's catching?!?
Yep, Acquired Situational Narcissism as described by Robert B. Millman, medical advisor to Major League Baseball, is that lovely tendency of celebrities to think the world begins and ends at their own nose. Regular Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a painful, lifelong condition, involves the following characteristics - paraphrased: -- expects to be recognized as superior out of proportion to any achievement; --preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited power, success, brilliance, ideal love; -- believes that s/he is "special and unique" and should only have to associate with other special or high-status people/institutions; -- requires and demands excessive admiration; -- sense of entitlement, unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment and of others automatically going along with his/her every whim; -- takes advantage of others to meet own needs/desires; -- unable to recognize or identify with the feelings of others, lacks empathy; -- haughty, arrogant behaviors [impatience, anger when things don't go his/her way] Some [more than 5] or all of these things come together to have a severe, negative impact and influence in the person's life. [Many of these charatcteristics are recognizable in ourselves or others to a lesser degree -- the true disorder prevents normal relationships and normal functioning to a severe degree.] The condition results from an incomplete maturing around age 2-4 when we move from the limited, self-centered world of a wholly dependent infant to recognizing that others are like us and need to be considered. The acquired part of the condition Millman describes occurs when the power of fame/money change how the people around the individual relate to him. Being unable to walk down the street without being mobbed by adoring fans, even the closest relationships are so unbalanced by the power differences that the only reflections the individual receives from anyone is "oh, you're great, oh you're wonderful, please don't hurt/fire/crush me..." One down sycophancy.This includes the celebrity's usual planetary system of assistants, publicists, agents, lawyers and groupies. But it also includes us, the public. We're all complicit in acquired situational narcissism. ''We've created it,'' says Millman. ''They're just responding to us.'' ...So why is acquired situational narcissism a problem? It's not, for us or for E! or for the tabloids or for VH1's ''Behind the Music.'' It is, however, for the acquired situational narcissists. Their marriages fall apart, they make lousy parents, they take copious quantities of drugs, they get into trouble with the law. ''Because they truly don't believe the world is real,'' Millman says, ''they begin to think they're invulnerable. Some even risk their lives, since the world can't hurt them if it's not real.'' ..."I have high-class problems!"
Seems like Millman has come up with a good handle to describe a phenomenon we all recognize on sight.
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