Narcissus by Caravaggio, 1597
Narcissism and the Meltdown by Bill Eddy
"I don’t know if you saw an Associated Press article in your newspaper last week (10/7/08) about a Los Angeles area married man who killed himself, his wife, his three children and his mother-in-law. He was unemployed, previously worked in the accounting industry and was despondent over his extreme financial difficulties. Apparently he left a suicide note saying he considered two options: just killing himself or killing his whole family. He reportedly chose to kill his whole family, because it was “more honorable.” (San Diego Union-Tribune, 10/7/08, p. A4)
"Why would someone do this? And what can we do to help prevent this from happening more widely? Some ideas came together for me yesterday while speaking about high conflict personalities with 230 domestic violence professionals in the Chicago area..." Click this link to read the rest of Bill Eddy's article: High-Conflict Institute
One important point Eddy makes in this article is for people to resist the urge to belittle the narcissist if they lost money in this financial crisis. Even though it's satisfying to deflate their fat heads with a prick of our needle, we may be putting our lives in danger.
Losing their financial status (money is a source of self-esteem) means the narcissist's defenses are on High-Alert against anyone threatening, criticising or accusing them of making bad decisions.
If you can't help but feel Schadenfreudistic about the narcissist's financial misfortune, be sure to keep it to yourself.
Hugs all,
CZ
Resources
Bill Eddy. Narcissism and the Meltdown
No comments:
Post a Comment