Celebrities tend to misbehave in tiresome and predictable ways--tantrums, affairs, addictions--and we tend to think they’re spoiled. But one psychiatrist, Cornell’s Robert B. Millman, says they’re not spoiled, they’re sick. The affliction is Acquired Situational Narcissism.
ASN develops when once-ordinary people achieve extra-ordinary success, such as winning an Oscar or being named rookie of the year. This double-dose of adulation loosens people’s grip on reality and they become (according to Millman) "unbelievably self-involved because of the attention from us. We make it so." [From Reader’s Digest April 2002] Now, there’s a unique twist: It’s OUR fault celebrities act that way!
Even though most of us will never be at risk of getting Acquired Situational Narcissism--our lives are far too ordinary--we all struggle with the temptation of becoming overly self-involved. We sometimes imagine minor-league celebrity status for ourselves and become prima donnas in the work-place, or at church, or at
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