M.N.: At the heart of the every big modern politician's psychology, it seems to me, is the object loss, guilt, self-blame, and depression
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M.N.: At the heart of the every big modern politician's psychology, it seems to me, is the object loss, guilt, self-blame, and depression. They try to deal with this by winning the people's love and approval which is the restoration of their lost objects of love: parents or other emotionally significant people in their lives. The examples are many but we have to search through them carefully, to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to demonstrate this point convincingly.
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Malignant Narcissism - GS
Malignant Narcissism: Does the President Have It? – Psychology Today | M.N.: Everyone has it, to a degree. But every man is not Donald Trump. The labels are just the labels, and no more than that.
Malignant Narcissism: Does the President Have It? – Psychology Today
Malignant narcissism is a psychological syndrome comprising an extreme mix ofnarcissism, antisocial behavior, aggression, and sadism.
On March 8, it was reported that former Massachusetts governor William Weld was exploring running against the president as a Republican, in part because of Trump’s “malignant narcissism.”1 What does that mean? And how would one determine whether President Trump suffers from this disorder?
Source: Marina Linchevska/Shutterstock
What does “Malignant” Mean?
Erich Fromm was a psychiatrist in the United States who immigrated from Hitler’s Germany in the 1930s. He was a world leader in many aspects of mental health and diagnosis. In his 1964 book, The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil, Fromm used this term for the first time when he identified the pathology of narcissism as having two types: “benign narcissism” and “malignant narcissism.”2
Fromm said that benign narcissism focuses on pride in one’s work, one’s effort. In the process of achieving something, the person has to stay in touch with the reality around the task in order to accomplish it. "The energy which propels the work is, to a large extent, of a narcissistic nature, but the very fact that the work itself makes it necessary to be related to reality, constantly curbs the narcissism and keeps it within bounds. This mechanism may explain why we find so many narcissistic people who are at the same time highly creative.”3
On the other hand, there is malignant narcissism. This is not about achievement, but rather something the person thinks they inherently have that’s special: “for instance, his body, his looks, his health, his wealth, etc…. Malignant narcissism, thus, is not self-limiting.”4 Fromm gives the examples of many historical figures who had this type:
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