The phrase "star disease" is heard by modern people and most often with condemnation is used in relation to famous people. But not everyone knows that this is a psychological term, which means one of the forms of personality disorder, often having common features with megalomania. We will get acquainted with the causes and symptoms of the phenomenon.
Description
Star sickness is inherent not only to celebrities who amaze the public with their vagaries and strange behavior, but also to ordinary people who begin to put themselves above others, behave defiantly, lose friends and receive many other problems. There is nothing good in this phenomenon, but a person suffering from such a disorder cannot do otherwise. Most often, the root cause of personality deformation is success - an increase in the career ladder, successfully evaluated work, and a project brought to life. Praise and enthusiasm turn their heads, giving rise to a person’s thoughts about his own uniqueness, genius.
He begins to mistakenly live by a double standard, believing that he, the "star", is allowed much more than the "mere mortals." This is, in general terms, stellar disease.
Manifestations and signs
Many can recall how famous people were arrogant and defiant. But what are the signs of star fever in psychological science? There are several of them:
- Unreasonably high self-esteem, exaggeration of one's own significance and achievements.
- Confidence that other people are “worse.”
- A painful need to constantly impress others, to be in the spotlight.
Deviation is quite dangerous because it leads to degradation of the individual. At the same time, people can put themselves on a par with some others (having achieved, let us say, a similar result), this is what the state differs from megalomania.
Causes
Consider the factors that could cause star fever in a person who is far from show business, they can be divided into internal and external. For convenience, the data are presented in table form.
What can cause a deviation?External | Domestic |
Sudden success | Heightened self-esteem |
Permanent praise, even deserved | Excessive ambition |
Excessive attention from managers | Arrogance, ambition, arrogance |
Unexpected improvement in wealth, income growth | Arrogance |
Mistakes in education | Contempt for other people who failed to succeed, poorer |
Various combinations of these factors can lead to this deviation. For example, if a person with high self-esteem achieves unexpected success, he can “turn her head” and lead to the occurrence of star fever. Then even the immediate environment will be perceived by this person as people unworthy of her attention.
Symptoms
How to recognize a person suffering from this personality deformation? Components of star disease will help, among which it is customary to relate:
- The desire to always be in the spotlight.
- Envy of someone else's success.
- Inattention to family and friends, full concentration on one's own person.
- The contrast of two forms of relations - to oneself as to a higher person, self-aggrandizement, and to others, belittling their role.
- Often, such individuals allow themselves to violate the norms accepted in society, since they consider themselves superior to them.
Also in the specialized literature one can meet the term “narcissism”, narcissism, it has much in common with the deviation considered. Such a person not only behaves arrogantly, he is sincerely confident in his superiority and believes that others are of the same opinion.
Treatment
What to do if a person has star disease, can this be cured and how? This is possible, since the deformation of the personality is still at the initial stage, but the person suffering from it does not understand the problem, therefore, it is unlikely to turn to a professional psychologist.
Relatives can help him dispel illusions by setting a complex goal that makes it clear that not everything was achieved and there is something to strive for. Only honesty will help the "stars" to descend from heaven to earth and understand that they are no better than others. If, from love, you turn a blind eye to their whims and whims, then the deviation will only intensify and it will become much more difficult to defeat it.
This deviation can and should be fought, because star disease with the seeming harmlessness of the “patient” can cause his career to end. Even with talent and industriousness, bad temper, pride and narcissism can become the reasons that the choice will be made in favor of a less gifted, but more pleasant person in communication. Friends and relatives will turn away from a person suffering from narcissism, tired of enduring his ingratitude and carelessness. And he risks being left alone with his own genius and talent.