Is Vladimir Putin suffering from the Hubris syndrome which would make him lose the sense of reality?
Rumors are rife about Vladimir Putin's health. Is he swollen from taking medication? Is he suffering from an illness that would make him lose his mind? Is he suffering from a mental pathology?
Our colleagues from Slate magazine tried to decipher and raised the possibility that the Russian president is suffering from Hubris syndrome. According to doctors who observed him recently, he could be suffering from paranoia or more precisely from Hubris syndrome, a narcissistic disorder and an overconfidence that would make him lose his sense of reality, reads an article published last week.
In ancient Greek, Hubris (or hybris) means excessiveness, which makes this syndrome intimately related to power and excess. The person exceeds the limits of what is permissible in the perception of himself and in the relationship with others. There is an overestimation of oneself and a permanent underestimation of others, explains Dr Bertrand Gilot, psychiatrist. In the notion of hubris, in Greek mythology, there is also always the notion of violence, it is an archaic return to raw violence, to a power only destructive that exceeds what humans should be satisfied.