Does a narcissism epidemic exist in modern western societies? (opens in new tab)

(ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

32 pointsmaximveksler7y ago9 comments

9 comments

I wonder if narcissism and individualism are also linked to higher suicide rates.

I don'r know about suicide rates but it does linked to a rise in emotionally abused "normal" people being taken advantage by the narcissist https://www.amazon.com/s/?field-keywords=narcissistic+abuse+...

czbond7y ago

Possibly; however, aren't the depression rates in Russia pretty high as well? I, being a very independent American, feel that high rates of individualism are a good thing and provide inner power to continue when situations become difficult.

smt887y ago

I think Russia has extremely high rates of alcoholism, seasonal depression must also be an issue.

I just don't think you can learn much by comparing Russia with western Europe and North America. There are too many radically different variables.

justboxing7y ago

Yes, and Instagram is at the forefront of perpetuating this...[1]

Source: https://lendedu.com/blog/millennials-instagram-narcissistic-...

See the chart comparing narcissism on various social platforms.... The 'Gram is waaay ahead.

natecavanaugh7y ago

I tend to agree whole heartedly, but at the same time, IG seems, IMO, to feel a lot less toxic than Twitter. It's a small sample set, and perhaps not really indicative of much besides my personal feeds, but IG definitely has a lot more self promotion, but my Twitter feed comes off far more as a place for people to air their quick take criticisms and gripes.

Shallow "hey look at me posts" don't bother me as much as just a lot of generally, even if mildly, negative thoughts and observations.

Admittedly, I've long had a very strained and irritated relationship with my Twitter feed, even if I still enjoy the people I follow personally. I just get a much more negative feeling when using Twitter. Just could be me though.

lr4444lr7y ago

I'm sorry, but I can't take such a study seriously when it's using data collected from East Germany pre fall of Communism, when it had one of if not the most intrusive surveillance societies in human history. There's simply too great a possibility that the fear of study participants would have altered their responses to avoid reprisal.

To a lesser extent, I'd cast a skeptical glance on this kind of data any society with collectivist pressures until presented with a very high standard of evidence that the participants were convincingly guaranteed their responses were untraceably dissociated from their regular lives.

nisa7y ago

Did you read the abstract? They conducted an online survey and asked where the participants where coming from. They collected the data a few months ago.

Besides that you seem to have no idea how society actually worked in Eastern Germany - trust to medical personel was actually pretty high and health care was good. STEM subjects were hard science and also medicine education was good. Not sure about psychiatry but western countries did lobotomy until the 80ies...

So I guess if they would have screened in the GDR for that, the data might be accurate enough - but you didn't bother to read the abstract.

Stasi worked different - they didn't bother with regular folks but were focussed on dissidents (wearing blue jeans and having long hair was often enough, through) and people in power positions or with connections outside of GDR were targeted.

Reprisal was not like in North Korea where you end up in the gulag (stuff like that happend, I just want to clarify not excuse them) - it was a much more nuanced system - you don't get the flat or job an stuff like this.

People planning for or announcing public discontent with system got often harsh treatment but everday folks could speak open as long as you didn't articulate discontent with the system - even that was allowed to a certain degree.

Ghonorea7y ago

Edgyyy

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse