God complex

A god complex is an unshakable belief characterized by consistently inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility. A person with a god complex may refuse to admit the possibility of their error or failure, even in the face of irrefutable evidence, intractable problems or difficult or impossible tasks. The person is also highly dogmatic in their views, meaning the person speaks of their personal opinions as though they were unquestionably correct.[1] Someone with a god complex may exhibit no regard for the conventions and demands of society, and may request special consideration or privileges.[1]

For the Doctor Who episode, see The God Complex.

Jehovah complex

Jehovah complex is a related term used in Jungian analysis to describe a neurosis of egotistical self-inflation. Use included in psychoanalytic contributions to psychohistory and biography, with, for example, Fritz Wittels using the term about Sigmund Freud in his 1924 biography[2] and H. E. Barnes using the term about George Washington and Andrew Jackson.[3]

God complex is not a clinical term nor diagnosable disorder and does not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

The first person to use the term god-complex was Ernest Jones (1913–51).[4] His description, at least in the contents page of Essays in Applied Psycho-Analysis, describes the god complex as belief that one is a god.[5]

gollark: I see.
gollark: And small changes could make it fold very differently sometimes.
gollark: How? I thought binding and whatever were very sensitive to the particular shape.
gollark: It probably can't fold *that* differently without just not working.
gollark: Weird that everyone suddenly started closing borders *now* given that it's apparently been around and known about somewhat for two weeks or so.

See also

References
  1. Kaplan, Harold I.; Benjamin J. Sadock (1972). Modern Group Book, volume 4: Sensitivity through encounter and marathon. J. Aronson.
  2. Sigmund Freud: His Personality, His Teachings and His School, by Fritz Wittels, 1924
  3. "Some Reflections on the Possible Service of Analytic Psychology to History", by H. E. Barnes, Psychoanal Rev 1921, 8(1):22-37
  4. Deep Blue at the University of Michigan umich.edu Retrieved 2012-01-22
  5. Jones, Ernest (15 March 2007). Essays in Applied Psycho-Analysis. Lightning Source Inc. p. 472. ISBN 1-4067-0338-9. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  • McLemee.com - The Shrink with a God Complex Ronald Hayman Newsday, (April 22, 2001)
  • News-Service.Stanford.edu - Did Caligula have a God complex? Stanford, Oxford archaeologists find evidence that depraved tyrant annexed sacred temple, John Sanford (September 10, 2003)
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