Narcissistic Personality Disorder

From the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders:

1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).
2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
3. Believes he is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).
4. Requires excessive admiration.
5. Has a sense of entitlement.
6. Selfishly takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends.
7. Lacks empathy.
8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him.
9. Shows arrogant, haughty, patronizing, or contemptuous behaviors or attitudes.

Sound like anyone you know? Juan Cole spells it out. (Must-read blogging!) Excerpt, relating to trait number one above:

The reason he has to stay in Iraq until the end of his presidency (it is all about him) is that he cannot admit that he did not succeed in being the great Transformer of the Middle East, that in fact he screwed up the Middle East royally. Because such an admission of any slightest mistake, much less a major series of failures, would fatally threaten his sense of grandiosity.

I've been reading Cervantes' Don Quixote, one of those books frequently mentioned but seldom read. Quite a hoot, actually. After reading far too many books on knights and chivalry, Don Quixote's world view becomes completely distorted. He starts out on a life of knight-errantry, seeking adventures. He sees giants instead of windmills, huge armies when there are only herds of sheep, weapons of mass destruction where there is nothing. (Well, maybe not the last--I haven't finished the book yet.) Much destruction and injury result. Fortunately, the narcissist Don Quixote was not commander-in-chief of the world's largest military, lucky for the world. We're not so lucky.


Yikes.