Do our generals and admirals and DoD officials suffer from "Acquired Situational Narcissism" ?

I was physically and sexually abused by nuns when I was a child.

As a result, I am active in the movement within the Catholic Church to root out the bishops and priests and nuns and lay brothers who sexually abused children while hiding behind their cassocks and habits. One of the leaders in this movement among ordinary Catholics and former Catholics to demand transparency and accountability from the Catholic Church and ultimately the Vatican on this issue of child abuse is a retired Dominican priest who is a canon lawyer, an American, named Tom Doyle. He is a worldwide leader in bringing the culprits to justice.

Recently he wrote a blurb in a Catholic lay movement blog named Voice from the Desert. I could not help but think how closely it applies to generals and admirals, congressmen and senators. Read the short blurb and lay it up against what we are facing now with our government refusing to be accountable to our people, especially as it concerns these unnecessary wars in Asia and the Middle East. Here is the blurb.

"Tom Doyle’s comment on NSAC Calls Second Resigning Irish Bishop’s Statement Incredulous follows.

[Irish bishop] James Moriarity’s statement is completely believable but one must understand it in its proper context. There can be no doubt that he, like the others, had cognitive recognition of the fact that sexual abuse of a child by anyone is harmful and in addition, cognitive recognition that sexual abuse of a child by a cleric is harmful. The difference between Moriarity and the same kind of cognitive recognition by a lay man or woman is this: he knows but doesn’t care.

In all probability his lack of a proper and appropriate emotional response is grounded in the radical formation he has experienced in the toxic clerical sub-culture of which he has been a part for all of his adult life.

The hierarchical system is a breeding ground for a deadly psychological disorder known as "Acquired Situational Narcissism." This disorder prevents the person from truly valuing anything other than himself for its own sake. In other words, if something is of value it is based on its benefit to the narcissist and in this instance to the narcissistic system.

Consequently had Moriartity stated publicly that he knew that sex abuse of children by clerics was horrendous and evil and admitted that he allowed it anyway because he did not want to tarnish his image, then he would have been accurate and either a "recovering narcissist", of which there is no such thing, or a budding convert to honesty which is almost as rare."

Having read this and having been on the receiving end of it throughout my entire grade school, high school and undergraduate education I wondered if this applied to generals and admirals and other government officials who appear to have no qualms sending young people to be crushed or killed for reasons that are murky at best.

Is this mental aberration also true for our government leaders and especially our military leaders?

Do they suffer from acquired situational narcissim which does not allow them at any time to see political and economic realities that are crushing our soldeirs and marines? Is this what allows them to send these young people into combat five or six times and essentially ruin an armed forces for the sake of the wealthy and the aims of the patrician class?

It intrigued me. I had to know more.

I looked up the disease online to see what the mental health professionals say about it. Here is a blurb from a blogsite written by a Dr. Sam Vaknin on the subject. He has written a book about this disease and the book is titled Malignant Self Love. (http://samvak.tripod.com/journal73.html).

Here is what his blog says about this disorder. Try and see the military within this context. I think it answers a lot of questions about the insanity surrounding the ‘leadership" directing this string of wars-for-no-good-reason.

"The Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a systemic, all-pervasive condition, very much like pregnancy: either you have it or you don’t. Once you have it, you have it day and night, it is an inseparable part of the personality, a recurrent set of behavior patterns.

Recent research (1996) by Roningstam and others, however, shows that there is a condition which might be called "Transient or Temporary or Short Term Narcissism" as opposed to the full-fledged version. Even prior to their discovery, "Reactive Narcissistic Regression" was well known: people regress to a transient narcissistic phase in response to a major life crisis which threatens their mental composure.

Reactive or transient narcissism may also be triggered by medical or organic conditions. Brain injuries, for instance, have been known to induce narcissistic and antisocial traits and behaviors.

But can narcissism be acquired or learned? Can it be provoked by certain, well-defined, situations?

But is the occurrence of Acquired Situational Narcissism (ASN) inevitable and universal – or are only certain people prone to it?

It is likely that ASN is merely an amplification of earlier narcissistic conduct, traits, style, and tendencies. Celebrities with ASN already had a narcissistic personality and have acquired it long before it "erupted". Being famous, powerful, or rich only "legitimized" and conferred immunity from social sanction on the unbridled manifestation of a pre-existing disorder. Indeed, narcissists tend to gravitate to professions and settings which guarantee fame, celebrity, power, and wealth…."

Now, here is my ultimate point.

When military and naval leaders as well as defense officials in their fifties and sixties have no compunction sending young people in their teens, twenties and early thirties into combat situations that number four and five and six deployments we have an enormous breakdown in military and naval leadership and responsibility to the nation and to those troopers and marines.

Are they mentally ill?

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG, (Ret.)