Hubris syndrome

 Hubris syndrome.

 

It is well known that power corrupts everyone who manages to have power and be in it, as Thomas Jefferson said: Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government, those in charge of power, over time and operations slowly, have perverted it into tyranny.

But there is a syndrome that is very characteristic of people who manage to have power, both politically and in any position with responsibility. This syndrome is known as “The Hubris Syndrome”.

What is?

Hubris syndrome, also known as "Hubris syndrome" or addiction to power, means excessive pride or arrogance of those who believe they are a god, feel superior, and despise others.

This syndrome was first described by former politician David Owen and also by psychiatrist Jonathan Davidson to use it as a diagnostic framework to classify the excessive power of some political figures.

David Owen, 2008, published a work in which he exposed the psychological profile of those who suffered from Hubris syndrome, attracted by the behavior of politicians, dictators, and parliamentarians. In his text, Owen coined the term "Hubris Syndrome" to refer to leaders who believed they had been called to great works and demonstrated a tendency toward omnipotence and grandiosity, being unable to listen to criticism.

For Owen, the Hubris syndrome is related to power and is increased by success, which is why he describes it as an acquired disorder that can be reversible and that can diminish once the power has disappeared.

For his part, the researcher from the Institute of Cellular Physiology of the UNAM, Federico Bermúdez Rattoni mentions that it is “a characteristic of personality and the moment in which a person is in a certain social situation; that is to say, there are people who in the social game can acquire or have a lot of power, and this makes them addicted to it”.

Those who suffer from Hubris syndrome end up being incompetent, due to excessive self-confidence and lack of attention to detail.

Symptoms.

There are 12 main symptoms of Hubris syndrome:

1. A narcissistic propensity to see the world as a stage on which to seek glory and exercise power. 
2. Tendency to carry out actions to glorify oneself and improve one's image.  
3. Excessive concern for the image. 
4. Mode messianic (as if he were a messiah) when talking about any current issue or the tendency to exaltation.  
5. Identification with the nation, the state, or a certain organization. 
6. Tendency to talk about himself in the third person.  
7. Excessive confidence in their judgment and contempt for the judgment of others. 
8. Exaggerated self-confidence with tendencies towards omnipotence.  
9. The belief that accountability is not to peers, society, or colleagues, but to higher courts, God, or history. 
10. Loss of contact with reality with progressive isolation.  
11. Impulsivity, restlessness, and recklessness. 
12. Conviction of the moral rectitude of his ideas.

 It should be noted that to establish the diagnosis of Hubris, only the presence of 3 of the aforementioned symptoms is required.

Owen points out that the pressures and responsibilities that power implies can affect the mind since leaders stop listening, do not consult, and start making decisions on their own and, even if they are wrong, they never come to recognize their own. mistakes.

 In this sense, it is estimated that those who are affected by Hubris syndrome, at the same time, develop a paranoid disorder, which leads them to believe that those who oppose their ideas are personal enemies who are motivated by envy.

Phases of Hubris syndrome.

 According to David Owen, those who suffer from this syndrome usually go through several phases, among which are the following:

• Doubts: after being appointed to a position, it is normal for people not to feel completely sure of their decisions. 
• Self-confidence: if everything starts to go well, then people begin to feel that they are worthy of the position they hold.  
• Flattery: once success is achieved, flattery arrives, which tends to reinforce the ego and generate a feeling of deification. 
• Arrogance: at this point, people consider themselves indispensable, even questioning how the company has been able to survive without them.  
• Pride: it is a phase in which the megalomaniac idealization is present, in which the person feels indispensable, infallible, and believes that he will enjoy the effects forever. 
• Paranoia: believing that others act out of envy, which leads those who suffer from the syndrome to despise the criticism that others make of them. Paranoia can also lead them to see others as personal enemies.  
• Fall from grace: finally, it often happens that politicians reach this stage once they are defeated electorally and, in the case of businessmen, with dismissals.

In this last phase, the patient with Hubris syndrome does not understand why he has been removed from his position, which can lead him to experience a depressive picture.

“Power does not change people, it only reveals who they are” José “Pepe” Mujica, former president of Uruguay.