Hubris Syndrome-Psychologists Discover New Personality Disorder Among Political Leaders.

As we have seen for eight years the arrogance from Obama and the fact he always feels that “it is always about him.”  Obama values his self-image above all.

Hubris Syndrome – Psychologists Discover New Personality Disorder Among Political Leaders

October 30, 2010, last updated April 29, 2012

By LOUISE CARR, Contributing Columnist
It’s commonly believed that politicians won’t get anywhere in today’s political climate without a strong dose of persuasiveness, charm, self-confidence, and the willingness to take risks and make difficult decisions. After all, who elects a leader who shies away from decision-making and doesn’t speak up for the country? You don’t even consider running for office unless you believe you are the best person for it.
But these qualities of successful leadership often walk hand-in-hand with less desirable traits – refusal to listen to advice, impetuous behavior, impulsiveness and recklessness.
According to a new study by David Owen and Jonathan Davidson at the House of Lords, London, UK and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, USA, published in 2009, when these negative traits take over, the leader’s capacity to make judgments and decisions is severely compromised, leading to political and societal disaster.
This behavior, the researchers claim, points to “hubris”— an excessive pride and self-confidence along with overwhelming contempt for others. Is hubris an exaggerated form of normal leadership characteristics? Or is hubris in political leaders an alarming personality disorder that causes harm to everyday people?
What Is Hubris Syndrome?
The authors look at hubris in leaders as a personality disorder, a syndrome with defined symptoms and a cause. Power causes hubris syndrome – it’s a disorder of power and high office, particularly when power is associated with success and when minimal restraints are placed on the leader. Symptoms of hubris syndrome may be familiar to anyone who has observed the nastier side of politics over the years.
People with hubris syndrome often take action first and foremost to enhance their own image and place an exaggerated importance on how they look and come across to the public. That politician who turns up only to events that further their career and has a scripted response that always manages to be about themselves? Hubris syndrome.
Leaders with hubris syndrome tend to speak in a messianic tone, showing high levels of self confidence that border on the “god-like.” Hubris syndrome sufferers equate themselves with a higher power and believe they are accountable only to that higher power – not to the people. The leader who uses the royal “we” – “we have become a grandmother” – is exhibiting hubris syndrome.
Hubris syndrome is characterized by a loss of contact with reality, a reckless and restless impulse ultimately ending in incompetence.
Who Suffers From Hubris Syndrome?
Out of the 18 presidents in office from 1908 to 2009, seven displayed symptoms of hubris syndrome – Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. One was judged to have full-blown hubris syndrome – George W. Bush. Kennedy showed occasional signs of hubris syndrome, notably during the Bay of Pigs events in 1961. Richard Nixon displayed hubris syndrome including saying to Henry Kissinger in 1972, “Never forget, the press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy” (released by the Nixon Library, run by the National Archives, on 2 December 2008).

George W. Bush was judged to develop hubris syndrome after two years in office, in the period surrounding 9/11. Four out of 26 UK Prime Ministers from 1908 to 2007 had hubris syndrome – David Lloyd George, Neville Chamberlain, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.
Margaret Thatcher developed hubris syndrome after nine years in office, according to researchers, although many believe she displayed symptoms throughout her political life. Tony Blair developed hubris syndrome two years after taking up office and showed it clearly in the time of the Iraq war and the issue of fabricated intelligence over weapons of mass destruction.
Not included in the psychologists’ report but the subject of increasing concern is Barack Obama. Some commentators note that the president seems to be displaying symptoms of hubris. According to Nile Gardiner at The Telegraph, “Barack Obama and Joe Biden have strutted across the country with a vain swagger that would make a peacock blush,” and many wonder if his arrogance borders on the delusional. More recently, he has been alleged to have started keeping a Nixon-like “enemies list”.
Mark Halperin at Time says “the White House is in over its head, isolated, insular, arrogant and clueless about how to get along with or persuade members of Congress, the media, the business community or working-class voters.”

How Does Hubris Syndrome Differ from Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
Is hubris syndrome new, or a part of recognized disorders such as bipolar disorder or narcissistic personality disorder? Researchers suggest that grandiosity is also a feature of bipolar disorder but that the two conditions are separate. Hubris syndrome is similar to narcissistic personality disorder in that both can be seen as an acquired disorder and one that can disappear – one 1995 study from McLean Hospital, Belmont showed only 46 to 50 percent of sufferers retained a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder at a three-year follow-up point.
Seven of the researchers’ 14 defining symptoms of hubris syndrome are among the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder according to the American Psychiatric Association, but five symptoms are unique to hubris syndrome – “conflation of self with the nation or organization; use of the royal ‘we’; an unshakable belief that a higher court (history or God) will provide vindication; restlessness, recklessness and impulsiveness; and moral rectitude that overrides practicalities, cost and outcome.”
Researchers maintain that a leader suffering from hubris syndrome should display at least one unique symptom and three of the others. But whether or not hubris syndrome is different from narcissistic personality disorder, should it be taken seriously?
Is Hubris Syndrome Dangerous?
The study authors claim “hubris syndrome in politicians is a greater threat than conventional illness to the quality of their leadership and the proper government of our world.” Hubris syndrome in our leaders potentially affects us all – decisions made under the influence of hubris syndrome may be reckless and based on an accountability to a higher power and not to the people themselves, leading to lapses in judgment that could have catastrophic consequences. Leaders with hubris syndrome, it is argued, act to win glory and in doing so lose touch with reality.
How dangerous is a politician out of touch with reality, possessing an unshakeable belief they are right? What about responsibility to the electorate? Should a politician who didn’t suffer from hubris syndrome when he was elected step down if his personality changes once he has acquired power in office?
Hubris syndrome doesn’t just affect politicians. The recent economic crisis revealed several high-profile and powerful business leaders afflicted by the condition. Could hubris syndrome have caused the financial meltdown?
Who Should Diagnose Hubris Syndrome?
If hubris syndrome is seen as a medical condition, and one that can cause a significant amount of suffering to the body of the country, this raises certain tricky policy issues. Who should diagnose the sufferer and what should they recommend as treatment? Is it possible to design legislation and official codes of practice to limit its effects?

(FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH IS INTERESTING.)

Or perhaps prevention is better than cure – political candidates should undergo brain-imaging to track hubris risk. It’s unlikely that any political leader suspected of having hubris syndrome would voluntarily submit to further medical tests and psychological questioning. And it is hard to know whether hubris syndrome disappears as power disappears, as we know little about leaders’ lives and personalities once they leave office.
A more likely form of hubris syndrome limitation would come from a greater awareness of the condition and a consequent obligation on leaders to be accountable for their actions and accept constraints on time in office. Hubris syndrome or not, political leaders around the world could benefit from treatment to increase self-control, and the ability to listen to advisers while keeping a proportionate sense of humor and perspective while in office.

(This last paragraph is very interesting – LEADERS TO BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS AND ACCEPT CONSTRAINTS ON TIME IN OFFICE – WHICH MEANS TERM LIMITS.”)

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