The word megalomania comes from the union of two Greek words: megas , which means “great”, and mania which means “obsession”. Thus, megalomania is the obsession with the great, at least if we pay attention to its etymology.

Megalomaniacs: what are their characteristics?

Now, who doesn’t know someone who, from thinking big, thinks he’s going to eat the world? It is quite common to find, from time to time, people who are particularly proud of themselves, with a clearly optimistic view of their own abilities and who seem to think they are capable of anything.

By way of criticism, it can also happen that someone (or perhaps we ourselves) labels these people with the adjective “megalomaniac” or “megalomaniac”, especially if the person being talked about has a certain power to influence the lives of others, either because he or she is very popular or because he or she is assigned a high position.

Are we talking about megalomaniacs here?

Clarifying the concept of the megalomaniac

What exactly is megalomania? Is it a word used only to describe cases of mental disorder, or can this word serve to designate the conceited or vain people we meet in our daily lives?

In a sense, the right choice is the second one, and the fact that we use the word megalomania to describe all kinds of people is proof of that. In general terms, megalomania is understood as a tendency to overestimate one’s own abilities and the importance of the role played in the lives of others. Thus, a person who tends to be quite proud (perhaps too proud) of his or her abilities and of his or her decision-making power could be labelled as a megalomaniac or megalomaniac, though using the word somewhat loosely.

However, if we try to understand megalomania from the field of psychology, we will have to use this word in much better defined cases.

The origins: megalomania in psychoanalysis

Freud had already taken it upon himself to speak of megalomania as a personality trait linked to neuroticism, something he himself treated in the well-to-do patients who came to his practice.

Beyond Freud’s psychoanalysis, other followers of the psychodynamic current have come to define megalomania as a defense mechanism carried out so that reality does not contradict the unconscious impulses that, theoretically, would lead us to behave trying to satisfy all our needs immediately, as if we had unlimited power. As we obviously do not have the omnipotence that the subconscious part of our psyche would like to have, these psychodynamics say, we distort reality so that it seems that we do: and hence the megalomania, which would help us avoid suffering continuous frustration .

However, the dominant clinical psychology today is on a path that has nothing to do with the psychodynamic current founded with Freud, and the notion of megalomania has also changed.

Signs and symptoms of this disorder

The term megalomania appears in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) and is included in the description of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but it does not have its own section and therefore cannot be considered in itself a mental disorder, but rather part of the symptomatology.

Thus, megalomania may play a role in a diagnostic picture, although currently mental health professionals prefer to use more precise terminology to speak of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Specifically, to find out if megalomania is part of a disorder, special attention is paid to whether or not the person has delusional ideas.

Megalomania and delusional ideas

Delusional ideas are those based on clearly inadequate logic , which only make sense to the person who holds these beliefs, when he or she is unable to learn through experience the uselessness of these ideas, and when the fact of acting according to these ideas is problematic or inadequate.

Therefore, for megalomania to be part of a clinical picture, it has to be presented in this type of thoughts that distort reality, taking its toll on the person in question and/or his or her environment. Megalomania is equated with delusions of grandeur.

A person who has been diagnosed with, among other things, tendencies towards megalomania will tend to believe that he or she has more power than a person would have in his or her situation , and the fact that holding on to these beliefs will lead you to fail by seriously harming you will not change your mind. The delusional idea will remain there even after losing fights against several people at once, for example, or after being rejected by many people because of a very presumptuous presentation.

Also, because megalomania is related to narcissistic personality disorder, you will most likely tend to be concerned about the image you give.

All this, of course, if we understand by megalomania what is included in the DSM-V.

What are megalomaniacal people like?

People who have a pattern of behavior clearly associated with megalomania can be of many types, but obviously have some common characteristics.

  • They behave as if they have almost unlimited power , which can lead them into serious trouble for obvious reasons.
  • They take advantage of this supposed omnipotence , in the sense that they like to test their abilities.
  • They do not learn from their mistakes and experience does not make them correct the behaviours associated with delusions of grandeur.
  • They seem to be constantly faking to give an idealized image of themselves.
  • They pay a lot of attention to the way others react to what they do or say, although if others reject them because of their behaviour, people with an extreme degree of megalomania will tend to think that the problem belongs to others.

Megalomania is a concept with chiaroscuro

Megalomania is a bit of an ambiguous concept… like almost all concepts in psychology. Megalomania itself can be applied to many cases, more extreme or more frequent, and it is not necessary to have a mental disorder to be worthy of the name. However, in the DSM-V uses the concept of megalomania to designate extreme cases in which delusions of grandeur are presented which isolate the individual and make him/her hold a very distorted view of things.

Many times, in the clinical and forensic context, those in charge of diagnosing people have to know how to recognize cases in which the tendency to megalomania is part of the symptomatology of a mental disorder… which is not easy. That is, they have to distinguish between what is popularly known as “daring” and pathological megalomania.

How do they do it? Well, part of the secret is in the years of experience, of course. If it were possible to diagnose cases of disorders expressed through megalomania, there would be no need for professionals to deal with them. On the other hand, diagnostic manuals include a series of criteria that serve to quantify more or less objectively the degree to which megalomania approaches delusions of grandeur and narcissistic personality disorder.

A Final Reflection

From the perspective of psychology, using the popular definition of the concept “megalomania” entails an obvious danger: on the one hand, trivializing with a series of symptoms that occur in clinical pictures and worsen the quality of life of the people who experience it, and on the other hand, building a false social alarm around a non-existent epidemic. There are people who simply have much higher than average self-esteem and optimism, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Bibliographic references:

  • Fox, Toby. (2015). Megalovania: Undertale’s more megalomaniac character song.
  • Rose, Larken. (2005). How to Be a Successful Tyrant: The Megalomaniac Manifesto.
  • Rosenfeid, Israel. (2001) Freud’s Megalomania: A Novel.