There are many among us who see the cause of all difficulties in their exceptional merits. Psychotherapist Yannick Le Jean talks about what is behind these feelings.
Psychologies: What is a superiority complex?
Yannick Le Jean: According to the Austrian psychoanalyst Alfred Adler, this complex “manifests itself in the behavior, character traits and opinions of a person who is convinced that his natural abilities are superior to the usual average level”*. However, as Adler believed, the superiority complex is always inseparable from the feeling of own weakness and failure inherent in each of us. This feeling appears in early childhood, when the child feels small and powerless …
Does the child manage to compensate for this feeling?
I. L. J.: Oh sure. Gaining life experience, he feels more confident and finds the strength to move forward. The passionate desire to be strong and powerful allows him to develop, adapt, and then correlate his personal needs with the rules and restrictions imposed by family and society … However, sometimes his desire to be strong turns out to be the only way to compensate for feelings of inferiority. And then it can acquire an obsessive character and be expressed in arrogance, a feeling of complacency, or, conversely, in constant complaints about life.
Our consultants
Yannick Le Jan – Psychotherapist, Secretary General of the French Society of Individual Psychology.
And what happens to those who feel their superiority over other people?
I. L. J.: In any person there is a feeling of inferiority, a feeling that he is not able to solve the problems that arise on the path of life. Well, really, how can you always be “too smart”? Those who focus so stubbornly on the idea of some kind of outstanding dignity simply have not found another way to exist for themselves. Subsequently, when they have to integrate into society, they find that it is difficult for them to live.
Can this superiority complex be overcome?
I. L. J.: Yes, but for this you have to face reality. A person who decides to overcome this complex in himself will have to go through a difficult path, like Lyudmila – it can be painful. It is necessary to find a new balance in your life, to create a different way of compensation – for example, in creativity, in charitable activities … It can be difficult for a person to “shift the center” from his person and pay attention to others. Therefore, the more he makes an effort to turn around to people and the world, the more chances he will have to free himself from his complex.
* Alfred Adler (Alfred Adler) – Austrian psychoanalyst, founder of the school of individual psychology. He was the first to investigate and describe in detail the phenomenon of the psychological complex.