Need a wee bit help in Psychology

[Space Wolves]

I assume Psychology is science so ere' we go

I've googled and read myself to death and libraried, got most of the answers i was looking for however there were a few basic questions that just kept evading me!

A commnon Name for megalomania
and intresting facts about megalomania.

I think i just suck at searcing and finding this stuff....

[OccamR]

Well, a common name for it would be narcissicm.

See this article:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-megalomania.htm

Interesting fact: Hitler was a megalomaniac. (there ya go, that was easy)

[Bovril]

Narcististic personality disorder is the closest diagnosis in modern psychiatry to 'megalomania'. The DSM-IV (diagnostic and statistical manual of psychiatric disorders volume IV) is the standard work for the categorisation and diagnosis of psychiatric disorders in the English speaking world. These are the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic personality disorder:

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy. The disorder begins by early adulthood and is indicated by at least five of the following:
1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).
2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
3. Believes he is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).
4. Requires excessive admiration.
5. Has a sense of entitlement.
6. Selfishly takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends.
7. Lacks empathy.
8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him.
9. Shows arrogant, haughty, patronizing, or contemptuous behaviors or attitudes.

This disorder is largely untreatable, and may well have a genetical basis.

Other psychiatric disorders that might be labled megalomaniacal are anti-social personality disorder and the occasionally mania, though these present much worse fits with the feature generally assosiated with megalomania.

[Ummon]

Of course, whenever you adjudicate a personality disorder, you have to consider the introductory part which underlines general diagnostic criteria on personality disorders as well...

http://www.behavenet.com/capsules/di...snltydsrdr.htm

General diagnostic criteria for a Personality Disorder
(cautionary statement)
A. An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual's culture. This pattern is manifested in two (or more) of the following areas:

(1) cognition (i.e., ways of perceiving and interpreting self, other people, and events)
(2) affectivity (i.e., the range, intensity, lability, and appropriateness of emotional response)
(3) interpersonal functioning
(4) impulse control

B. The enduring pattern is inflexible and pervasive across a broad range of personal and social situations.

C. The enduring pattern leads to clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

D. The pattern is stable and of long duration and its onset can be traced back at least to adolescence or early adulthood.

E. The enduring pattern is not better accounted for as a manifestation or consequence of another mental disorder.

F. The enduring pattern is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., head trauma).

Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Copyright 2000 American Psychiatric Association