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ABSTRACT - Hubris syndrome is associated with power, more likely to manifest itself the longer the person exercises power and the greater the power they exercise. A syndrome not to be applied to anyone with existing mental illness or brain damage. Usually symptoms abate when the person no longer exercises power. It is less likely to develop in people who retain a personal modesty, remain open to criticism, have a degree of cynicism or well developed sense of humour. Four heads of government in the last 100 years are singled out as having developed hubris syndrome: David Lloyd George, Margaret Thatcher, George W Bush and Tony Blair.
KEY WORDS: intoxication, isolation. messianic, power
'Hubris' is not as yet an accepted medical term. The most basic meaning, developed in ancient Greece, is simply as a description of an act: a hubristic act was one in which a powerful figure, puffed up with overweening pride and self-confidence, treated others with insolence and contempt. The individual seemed to derive pleasure from using his power to treat others in this way, but such dishonouring behaviour was strongly condemned in ancient Greece. In a famous passage from Plato's Phaedrus, a predisposition to hubris is defined: 'When desire irrationally drags us toward pleasures and rules within us, its rule is called excess [hubris]'.1
Hubristic behaviour has fascinated playwrights, no doubt because it provides the opportunity to explore human character within highly dramatic action. Shakespeare's Coriolanus is an excellent example. But the pattern of the hubristic career is one that will immediately strike a chord in anyone who has studied the history of political leaders. It is an occupational hazard for all leaders, whether political, business, military or academic, although not all such leaders develop the hubris syndrome. Many politicians at times, however, do manifest some characteristic of hubristic behaviour.
There are several defined categories of mental illness that may be related in part to a continuum around hubris syndrome: adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), substance abuse, which includes alcohol, hypomania, bipolar disorder, paranoid personality disorder, one of nine categories listed in the International classification of diseases (ICD)-10, and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), one of 10 categories listed in Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV). Most of these...