TIPSters will be interested to hear - if you haven't already - of the newest personality disorder, making its way to DSM approval. Interesting stuff...it made the New York Times Magazine list of "The Year in Ideas" this past Sunday (Dec. 9, 2001). First identified by Robert Millman, professor of psychiatry at Cornell Medical School and the medical adviser to Major League Baseball (now there's an interesting credential!), he calls it "acquired situational narcissism."
Here's an excerpt, with website below: People who aspire to stardom tend to be more narcissistic than others, but they don't develop a true narcissistic personality disorder until they begin to achieve success: the first platinum album, the first appearance in Vanity Fair's ''Young Hollywood'' issue...The Situation is fame, money and, even more, the pheromone-like power of fame and money. ''When a billionaire or a celebrity walks into a room,'' says Millman, ''everyone looks at him. He's a prince. He has the power to change your life, and everyone is very conscious of that. So they're drawn to this person. What happens is that he gets so used to everyone looking at him that he stops looking back at them.'' Before the celebrity knows it, he's having grandiose fantasies, he can't feel empathy, he's full of rage, she's starring in ''Glitter.'' The celebrity has begun to share all the symptoms of severe narcissists. But there are a few important differences. Both groups suffer from a distorted view of their place in the world, but the tension in the early-developing narcissist is more self-contained. In the acquired situational narcissist, it is also fed by people who surround him. Even worse, the view of the world the acquired situational narcissist is getting is, when you think about it, quite reasonable. ''They are different,'' says Millman. ''They're not normal. And why would they feel normal when every person in the world who deals with them treats them as if they're not?'' http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/09/magazine/09ASN.html Beth Benoit University System of New Hampshire --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
