Narcissism in African American Males

Language, family, race, religion, physical outlook, occupation, among many other divisive lines (Haslam, 2009). Since we all have a common origin as men, we must have identified ourselves as one people. In the recorded history of mankind, we observe that divisions started a long time ago when the human race began to diversify. First, we had the ancient civilizations who believed that they were greater than the rest of humanity. The Romans thought they were mightier and hence believed they had the obligation to conquer the world. “Me”, remains engraved in our hearts and thus forming the core of our personality, then “mine” follows and the whole thing becomes the basis of our day to day living (Haslam, 2009). In some cases, the selfishness goes to a greater extent when a man becomes too much obsessed with himself.

The man in question becomes extremely selfish, excessively admires himself and craves to be recognized and be treated highly by others, and this kind of a man is referred to as a Narcissist. According to Lasch (1991), the word Narcissism came into use after a Greek mythology of a young handsome man called Narcissus who fell in love with his own image and spent all his time admiring his image in a pool of water (He eventually changed into a flower which is named after him). Well, a study shows that America has turned out to be a narcissist nation – with statistics estimating it to be thirty percent of Americans. African American males still consider themselves to be potentially bad people and require the community to take it as a sacrifice they make, for them to do the good things in the society.

Moreover, more of African American males want to be treated with love, fear, and respect by their women irrespective of whether they have any achievements in life or they respect the women in return. The turn of events is because the males consider themselves precious as there are more women than men in America. Another way that narcissism is showing up in African Males is their unlimited dreams and fantasies of greatness and success. Since the opportunities have been opened to the black community, a majority of the men have been preoccupied with considering themselves as people destined for greatness. Worst still, they will always claim the custody of their children in divorce even if they were not caring for the children as parents.

They do so just to avoid paying money to the women for children upkeep as well as to satisfy their desire for superiority over women. Miller (1996) argued that the most remorseful aspect of narcissism in African American males that should be condemned is the men who refuse to let their lovers move on without violence after they break up in a relationship. It is common to hear women murdered in a relationship related case, and most of the cases involve African American males (Miller, 1996). Moreover, most African American men will hurl insults at women who reject their advances. K. , & Twenge, J. M. Individual differences in narcissism: Inflated self-views across the lifespan and around the world.  Journal of Research in Personality, 37(6), 469-486.

The condition is both psychological and cultural, and from an individual perspective, it suggests disturbance that is worsened by excessive investment on one’s image instead of focusing on one’s self. A narcissist is always concerned about how people look at them, how they appear, and how they feel concerning their public image (Wetzel et al. In many cases, they deny who they are and embrace models that they don’t have. Most of the research carried out suggest that narcissists tend to be manipulative, seductive, striving to have power and control which are all for their malicious self-interests and benefits. Narcissists are also egoists since they have no values such as dignity, integrity, self-expression, and self-possession since their feelings are not from their bodies.

Without professional help, Narcissists end up ruining their relationships with people at work, family bonds, and other social spheres in life. The unrealistic goals that they set and the images that they create about themselves are what cloud their thoughts and the reasoning process. There is a growing interest among psychologists especially in the narcissism among the African Americans. There are reports on several cases that relate to narcissism. However, there has been little attention paid to it given that the condition because it is perceived to be dominant in whites. The patient also needs to have demonstrated individual thoughts on beauty, success, power, and domination over other people. In cases where they are arrogant or appear to be haughty, they should also be diagnosed.

The reason for diagnosis is to determine the extent of the disorder before deciding the form of treatment that could be applied to them (Layton, 2014). Reported cases of untreated narcissism show a correlation between drug and alcohol problems, difficulties in working with other people or concentration in school for the younger people affected. Suicidal thoughts caused by the disorder is usual, especially among the African American males. Just because one has talent doesn’t mean that they get their way around. One needs to maneuver through life and make personal commitments to be successful rather than sit, do nothing, and express their opinions to others. This trait is typical for most young African American males which when overemphasized contributed to high levels of narcissism.

They can revert all the topics to them, and they go about bragging how they are the greatest. The character is also associated with an excessive admiration which is another symptom of the disorder (Thompson & Allen, 2012). They also choose to post good pictures of themselves and not a single bad image, which is pretentious because they seek to maintain a status that they may not have. They also actively resist all forms of criticism and prefer to keep friends who lie to them about how good they are. They also have a history of bad relationships with people at work and other related experiences. Causes and treatment of Narcissism The survey carried out by several clinicians and psychologists points out the main caused of narcissism to be the environment, genetics, and neurobiology.

The study by Yancy, (2016) discusses how genetics cause narcissistic disorders; just as mental disorders are genetic, so is a narcissistic disorder. , (2016) suggested therapy treatment for the disease because it helps them to appreciate people other than themselves. By acknowledging others, they can develop good communication schemes with others so that they can cope with conflicts that may arise or handle their emotional distress well. Proper parenting is another treatment approach that is preventative. Therapists can teach parents how to relate to their children from a tender age to create a conducive environment for them to live in which is vital for their self-image and self-esteem. The cultures that stereotype African Americans have concerning the whites need to be routed out since they are people who are equal to them.