⛪ 1. Group Narcissism in Community Mental Health Systems
Group narcissism here looks like:
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Defining wellness by conformity: Mental health is often coded as “compliance” with norms—behavioral, linguistic, emotional. If you don’t modulate your voice or sit still or stop being inconvenient, you’re “sick.”
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Gatekeeping resources as virtue: The “helpers” get moral superiority points while gatekeeping meds, housing, or therapy. Bureaucracy becomes a sacrament.
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Othering as a charitable stance: The person being “helped” is implicitly less human, less competent, less trustworthy. The staff meeting is a little narcissistic altar where “they” are always the campfire and “we” are always sitting around it and telling stories about “them”.
It’s not healing. It’s a performance of moral superiority.
🏙️ 2. Group Narcissism in the Homelessness Industrial Complex
This one’s easy: if group narcissism says “we are the good people,” the homeless are the perfect anti-self to reflect that back. Unsheltered folks are the societal “underbelly” used to define middle-class moral identity.
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Charity as narcissism: Helping the homeless becomes less about justice and more about feeling like a good person. Soup kitchens instead of policy. Fundraisers instead of rent control.
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Policing disguised as care: “Outreach” teams often work in tandem with police. Forced shelter stays, encampment sweeps, criminalization—these are ways to clean up the streets while telling ourselves we’re offering help.
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Moral myths about deservingness: The difference between “chronically homeless” and “just fell on hard times” is a narcissistic fiction to preserve the in-group’s comfort. “Some of them don’t want help” = group narcissism blaming the Other for being Other.
It’s gentrified empathy. It smells like coffee, bureaucracy.
🧠 3. Them/Us Structures: The Narcissist’s Playground
Group narcissism thrives on binaries. Us = rational, responsible, deserving. Them = chaotic, dangerous, unwell. It makes the narcissistic group feel good by projecting failure onto outsiders. So:
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“We support neurodiversity!” (as long as it doesn’t interrupt meetings).
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“We value difference!” (as long as it speaks English and knows how to use email).
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“We care about mental health!” (as long as it doesn’t look like madness).
The Them/Us structure isn’t a bug. It’s the feature that keeps group narcissism intact. And if someone from “Them” crosses over to “Us”? Instant exceptionalism. They become a “success story,” a feel-good tale to reinforce the system’s benevolence. Not an indictment—just a flattering anecdote.
🏛️ 4. Society at Large: Group Narcissism as National Operating System
Zoom out, and this narcissism animates the whole game:
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Nationalism: “We are the greatest country in the world.” Why? Because we say so. Group narcissism as patriotism.
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Ableism: “We are independent, productive citizens.” (Translation: we fear and punish dependency.)
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Capitalism: “We work hard, so we deserve more.” (And if you're poor, it’s a moral failing.)
Society needs its “Them”s—immigrants, addicts, the disabled, the homeless—not just to exclude, but to define what “Us” even means. Group narcissism is the mirror in which society loves itself while others are erased, pitied, or surveilled.
Summary (AKA the bitter pill):
Group narcissism is what keeps the societal ego intact while it tramples the very people it claims to care about. It’s the ideology that makes exclusion feel like virtue, punishment feel like order, and dehumanization feel like maintenance.
This isn’t a glitch. It’s how the machine works.
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