Echo Personality Disorder :: science

Echo reputation DisorderThe terminus Echo Personality Disorder was coined by British Psychosynthesis practitioner Patrick Hurst, as a reversal term for Inverted Narcissism and Covert Narcissism which later terms place unwarranted emphasis on narcissistic qualities of the personality, which in many of these individuals may not be a feature at exclusively. EPD is a highly differentiated appoint of dependant Personality Disorder, marked by behaviours of compliance and a need to mirror satisfying others -parents, spouse, friends, employer. Individuals with EPD may be attracted to dealinghips with individuals showing marked narcissistic traits -people who need to be mirrored or praised- though this in no way forms a standard or universal pattern as is often claimed by theorists. EPD individuals may enter into relationships with a great variety of people, though at core there is a tendency to choose situations in which unanswered love will be the outcome. These traits -choosing sig nificant relationships where love can neer be satisfactorily consumated, and the tendency to mirror significant others- were motivating features for choosing the term Echo Personality Disorder. In Greek mythology Echo was the lover of Narcissus. In this myth Echo, a forest nymph, falls in love with the selfish youth Narcissus, and when he shows clear signs of rejecting her she persists in her attatchement, and will not be moved from her aim. She finally satisfies herself with the masochistic task of echoing back to him all that he says. This too is a central feature of EPD behaviour in relationships, where the individual will mirror, echo, and compliment another at the expense of their accept self-worth and dignity. This echoing behaviour, though, does not exhaust the mythological potential of Echo, even if commentators on the myth narrow their descriptions to this single episode with Narcissus. Echo also has relations with Zeus, Hera, Pan, and Gaia, which have a different colora tion to those she has with Narcissus, and has many friends in the form of other forest nymphs -sisters as we would call them today attesting to the complexity we take place within the Echo personality constellation. Self descriptions of EPD individuals often relate a lack of self worth, and an accompanying fear of rejection, renunciation, and loss, as a exit of feeling unacceptable to others. These agonizing fears are a driving force behind the above-mentioned interpersonal coping style (mirroring and reflecting others). These individuals protect themselves from rejection/abandonment by acting so agreeable to others, via their mirroring capacity, that chances of re-experiencing abandonment woe is brought to a safe minimum.