Racism, Narcissism and Mental Health Issues: What's the Difference?

Racism and narcissism have been present in the United States for centuries. Conquests by American colonials were based on the belief that they had claims to the land, even though Native Americans were already present there. That continued with the advent of slavery, which lasted as a legal practice for almost 300 years.

While racism and narcissism are two separate terms, they are often intertwined. Narcissism is defined as "excessive interest in or admiration of oneself and one's physical appearance." And one definition of racism is "the belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another."

Both racism and narcissism have an elevated sense of self at their core. But not all narcists are racist: One can feel they are better than other people, but not necessarily because of race.

According to recent studies, the United States is a very narcissistic society. A 2018 study published in the journal Psychological Science found residents of states throughout the country thought their home state contributed more than others to the history of the United States.

Of course, there is no definitive facts one can point to as proof of this. So, the study truly did expose one's own belief system that what I have, or where I'm from, is better than what others have or where others are from.

What's more, narcissism may be growing in the U.S., too. A 2019 study published in the journal PLOS One found the country's youngest adults (between the ages of 18 and 25) believe their generation is the most "narcissistic and entitled living generation."

At the same time, many people in the country suffer from mental health issues. One in five adults experience mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). One in 25 adults experience serious mental illness, and 17% of youth ages 6-17 experience a mental health disorder.

With racism, narcissism and mental health issues so pervasive in the U.S., it begs the question: Are they all somehow interrelated?

The Root Causes of Racism, Narcissism and Mental Health Issues

Way back in 1935, author W.E.B. Du Bois published his iconic work, "Black Reconstruction." In it, he described the behavior of plantation owners in the South and the extreme negative effect that slavery had on their psyche.

In his book, Du Bois described the effect of racism this way:

[It] tended to inflate the ego of most planters beyond all reason; they became arrogant, strutting, quarrelsome kinglets; they issued commands; they made laws; they shouted their orders; they expected deference and self-abasement; they were choleric and easily insulted."

In other words, the racism displayed by the plantation owners fueled their narcissism even further, giving them a more extreme sense of self-importance and heir of superiority.

There isn't one root cause of narcissism, which can be a mental health issue in itself. Narcissistic personality disorder is defined by the Mayo Clinic as "a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships and a lack of empathy for others … People with narcissistic personality disorder may be generally unhappy and disappointed when they're not given the special favors or admiration they believe they deserve."

In some ways, this description of narcissism sounds a lot like racism, especially the "lack of empathy for others" and the "special favors" people feel they're due in lieu of others.

Again, not all narcissistic people are racist, but a link may seem to be made that most racist people are inherently narcissistic.

The Mayo Clinic cites issues such as genetics, neurobiology and environment as potential contributing factors to narcissistic personality disorder.

Maybe it's no surprise that some of those root causes are also often cited as root causes for other mental health issues. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S. Every year, 40 million adults are affected by it, which represents 18.1% of the nation's population.  

The good news in regard to anxiety is that it's highly treatable. The bad news is that only 36.9% of people who suffer from it actually seek out that treatment.

What's potentially more troubling is the link between depression and anxiety. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America says almost half of people who are diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with anxiety.

Other common mental health illnesses are Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and self-harm. Some fall under the broader categories of anxiety and depression. And most all have root causes that are eerily similar to that of narcissism and racism.

Is Racism an Extreme Form of Mental Health Issues? Some Scientists Say Yes

Back in 1969, some black psychiatrists sought to have extreme bigotry classified as a mental disorder. They even petitioned the American Psychiatric Association to do it.

The APA rejected the plea. Their argument was that there was so much racism in America at the time that it was to be considered a cultural problem rather than a psychopathological one. In other words, because extreme racism was so prevalent, it was normal, not out of the norm.

Today, 51 years later, though, this thinking has changed. In 2002, psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint penned a study for the Western Journal of Medicine that says not labeling extreme racism as a mental health issue continues to legitimize it.

In 2020, Poussaint was quoted in a Vice article that was analyzing extreme racism in the wake of violent attacks around the country that were spurred by violence. In it, he said:

"Extreme racism is when someone gets genocidal and wants to kill. That's beyond being normal. Some of the people who object to it being called a mental disorder say, 'Well, it's just learned behavior.' It's a learned behavior to want to exterminate people because of their skin color? Not to my way of thinking."

Poussaint makes the important distinction between "typical" racism, which can be a learned behavior, and extreme racism, which is hardly that. Not many people can legitimately claim their ultra-violent and racist parents taught them how to kill people because of their color of their skin; many, though, can say they learned to dislike another culture because of it.

In his 2002 essay, Poussaint referred to a prejudice rating scale developed by Dr. Megan Sullaway and Dr. Edward Dunbar. They concluded that there were "associations between highly prejudiced people and other indicators of psychopathology."

Extreme racism is, therefore, a mental health issue. At times, people who could be categorized as racist also may be diagnosed with mental health issues such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Poussaint is at the forefront of the modern push for the APA to "designate extreme racism as a mental health problem by recognizing it as a delusional psychotic symptom."

Something Must Be Done About Mental Health Issues

Clearly, millions of people in the United States are suffering from mental health issues, and it's having a serious detrimental effect on society. Here are just a few stats about the ripple effects of mental illness, per NAMI:

·      People who have serious mental illness are at greater risk of developing a chronic disease such as cancer.

·      19% of adults in the U.S. who have a mental illness also have a substance use disorder.

·      Caregivers spend an average of 32 hours per week providing unpaid care to people.

·      One in eight visits to emergency departments are the result of mental and substance abuse disorders.

·      70% of youth who are in the juvenile justice system have at least one mental health condition.

·      37% of all people incarcerated in the U.S. have a diagnosed mental condition.

·      Depression it the worldwide leading cause of disability.

·      Depression and anxiety orders alone cost the global economy roughly $1 trillion every year in lost productivity.

Mental health disorders are a serious problem in the United States. They have a significant, proven negative effect on not just the people suffering from them, but the world around them -- emotionally, socially and economically.

That's why it's vital to support the work of prominent mental health non-profit organizations such as Mental Health America, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the Child Mind Institute.

Reducing narcissism, racism and other related mental health disorders starts at the identification, treatment and prevention stages of one's life. These organizations can help the country do so effectively.

With so much hope for change,

Mohammad Hamid