Megalomania and delusions of grandeur: Playing God

A disorder whose signs and symptoms often make more than one despair.

The word megalomania comes from the union of two Greek words: megaswhich means "big", and mania meaning "obsession". Thus, megalomania is the obsession for the big, at least if we pay attention to its etymology.

Megalomaniacs: what traits characterize them?

Now, who does not know someone who, by thinking so big, thinks he or she is going to eat the world? It is quite common to find, from time to time, people who are particularly proud of themselves, who are people who are particularly proud of themselves, with a clearly optimistic view of their own abilities, and who seem to think they are capable of anything. and who seem to think they are capable of anything.

By way of criticism, it may also happen that someone (or perhaps we ourselves) label these people with the adjective "megalomaniac" or "megalomaniac", especially if the person we are talking about has a certain power to influence the lives of others, either because he or she is very popular or because he or she has been assigned a high position.

In these cases are we talking about megalomaniacs?

Clarifying the concept of megalomania

What exactly is megalomania? Is it a word used only to describe cases of mental disorder, or can this word be used to designate the conceited or vain people we encounter in our daily lives?

In a sense, the correct option is the latter, and the fact that we use the word megalomania to describe all kinds of people is proof of this. Generally speaking, Megalomania is understood as a tendency to overestimate one's own abilities and the importance of one's role in the life of others. and the importance of the role one plays in the lives of others. Thus, a person who tends to be rather proud (perhaps too proud) of his or her abilities and decision-making power could be labeled with the term megalomaniac or megalomaniac, albeit using the word somewhat lightly.

However, if we try to understand megalomania from a psychological point of view, we will have to use this word in much more narrowly defined cases.

The Origins: Megalomania in Psychoanalysis

Freud already spoke of megalomania as a personality trait linked to neuroticism, something he himself dealt with in the well-to-do patients who came to his office.

Beyond Freud's psychoanalysis, other followers of the psychodynamic current have come to define megalomania as a defense mechanism carried out so that reality does not contradict the unconscious impulses that, theoretically, would lead us to behave trying to satisfy all our needs immediately, as if we had unlimited power. As, evidently, we do not have the omnipotence that the subconscious part of our psyche would like to have, said these psychodynamicists, we distort reality to make it seem that we do have it: hence megalomania. hence megalomania, which would help us to avoid suffering continual frustration and frustration..

However, today's dominant clinical psychology is going down a path that has nothing to do with the psychodynamic current founded by Freud, and the notion of megalomania has also changed.

Symptoms and signs of this disorder

The term megalomania appears in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) and is included in the description of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but it does not have its own section and therefore cannot be considered in itself a mental disorder, but rather part of the symptomatology.

Thus, megalomania can play a role in a diagnostic picture, although mental health professionals currently prefer to use a more precise terminology to speak of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Specifically, to know whether megalomania is part of a disorder, special attention is paid to whether or not the person has delusional ideas.

Megalomania and delusional ideas

Delusional ideas are those based on a clearly inadequate logic.It only makes sense for the person who holds these beliefs, when he/she is unable to learn through experience the uselessness of these ideas, and when the fact of acting according to these ideas is problematic or inadequate.

Thus, for megalomania to be part of a clinical picture, it has to present itself in this type of thoughts that distort reality, taking its toll on the person in question and/or his environment. Megalomania is equated to delusions of grandeur.

A person who has been diagnosed with megalomania, among other things, will tend to believe that he/she has more power than others. will tend to believe that he/she has more power than a person would have in his/her situation.The fact that holding these beliefs will lead him to fail and seriously harm him will not change his mind. The delusional ideation will remain there even after having lost fights against several people at once, for example, or after having been rejected by many people by having presented himself in a very presumptuous way.

Moreover, as megalomania is related to narcissistic personality disorder, he will most likely tend to worry about the image he gives.

All this, of course, if we understand by megalomania what is included in the DSM-V.

What do megalomaniacs look like?

People who present a pattern of behavior clearly associated with megalomania can be of many types, but they obviously have some common characteristics.

• They behave as if they have virtually unlimited power, which can lead them to metastasize.They behave as if they have virtually unlimited power, which can get them into serious trouble for obvious reasons.
• They take advantage of this supposed omnipotenceThey take advantage of this supposed omnipotence, in the sense that they like to test their capabilities.
• They do not learn from their mistakes and experience does not cause them to correct the behaviors associated with delusions of grandeur.
• They seem to be constantly pretending to give an idealized image of themselves.
• They pay close attention to how others react to what they do or say, although if others reject them for their behaviors, people with an extreme degree of megalomania will tend to think that the problem lies with others.

Megalomania is a concept with chiaroscuroscuroses

Megalomania is a somewhat ambiguous concept... like almost all the concepts we work with in psychology. Megalomania, in itself, can be applied to many cases, more extreme or more frequent, and it is not necessary to have a mental disorder to be worthy of the appellation. However, in the DSM-V the DSM-V uses the concept of megalomania to designate extreme cases in which delusions of grandeur are present. that isolate the individual and make him/her hold a very distorted view of things.

Many times, in the clinical and forensic context, people in charge of diagnosing people have to know how to recognize cases in which the tendency to megalomania is part of the symptomatology of a mental disorder... which is not easy. That is to say, they have to distinguish between what is popularly known as "boldness" and pathological megalomania.

How do they do it? Well, part of the secret lies in years of experience, of course. If it were possible to diagnose cases of disorders that express themselves through megalomania, there would be no need for professionals to deal with it. On the other hand, diagnostic manuals include a series of criteria that serve to quantify more or less objectively the degree to which megalomania approaches delusions of grandeur and narcissistic personality disorder.

A final thought

From the perspective of psychology, using the popular definition of the concept "megalomania" entails an obvious danger: on the one hand, to trivialize with a series of symptoms that occur in clinical pictures and worsen the quality of life of people, trivializing with a series of symptoms that occur in clinical pictures and worsen the quality of life of the people who experience it, and on the other hand, building a false social alarm around and, on the other hand, to build a false social alarm around a non-existent epidemic. There are people who simply have a self-esteem and optimism far above average, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Bibliographical references:

• Fox, Toby. (2015). Megalovania: Undertale's more megalomaniac character song.
• Rose, Larken. (2005). How to Be a Successful Tyrant: The Megalomaniac Manifesto.
• Rosenfeid, Israel. (2001) Freud's Megalomania: A Novel.