Should Christians be concerned about "narcissism growing in our society?"
Narcisssists are characterized as people who pretend to be nice to get what they want but will be unconcerned about hurting others or discarding them when it suits them, making terrible spouses and family members. Narcissism is blamed for the horrendous scandals committed by church leaders and some of the worst evils of the world, the Christian Today website reports today (June 3, 2024).
A narcisssist is seen as so excessively self--involved , selfish, focused on the self, in a way that can make a person dangerous. It's one of the "dark triad" personality traits that is linked with a lot of nasty human behavior. And some argue that it's becoming more prevalent in society.
A "narcissistic personality disorder" (NPD) was first classed as a psychiatric diagnosis in 1980 by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), although the APA discussed scrapping this diagnosis in 2013, arguing it was too simplistic among other things.
Currently, the APA says symptoms of NPD are "grandiose self--importance" exhibitionisam, fantasies of greatness, emotional disfunctions, and interpersonal problems, such as "feeling entitled to special favors, taking advantage of others, and inability to empathize with the feelings of others."
Psychology academic Prof. Jean Twenge has written several books on the subject, arguing that since the 1970s, the average person is more narcissistic , which she blames on an excesssive focus on encouraging self--esteem and individualism in schools and in our culture. Prof. Twenge cites research showing that in early 1950s, only 12% of teens agreed"I am an important person" but by the late 1980s an astonishing 80% did so.
Modern Westerners are taught that "self -love" is a very good thing, even mandated by Jesus. It is often pointed out that Jesus' command to love our neighbor adds "as yourself."
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