god complex

{{Short description|Inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility}}

{{For|the Doctor Who episode|The God Complex}}

{{distinguish|Playing God (ethics){{!}}Playing God}}

A god complex is an unshakable belief characterized by consistently inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility.{{cite book |last=Christian |first=Danny |author-link= |date=October 2021 |title=Reversing Willie Lynch's Slave Making Method |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SclGEAAAQBAJ |location= |publisher=Xlibris US |page= |isbn=9781664109612}} The person is also highly dogmatic in their views, meaning the person speaks of their personal opinions as though they were unquestionably correct. Someone with a god complex may exhibit no regard for the conventions and demands of society, and may request special consideration or privileges.{{cite book|last=Kaplan|first=Harold I.|title=Modern Group Book, volume 4: Sensitivity through encounter and marathon|year=1972 |publisher=J. Aronson|author2=Benjamin J. Sadock}}

God complex is not a clinical term nor diagnosable disorder and does not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The recognized diagnostic name for the behaviors associated with a god complex is narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). A god complex may also be associated with mania or a superiority complex.

The first person to use the term "god complex" was Ernest Jones (1879–1958).[http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/about/index.html Deep Blue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120231931/http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/about/index.html |date=2012-01-20 }} at the University of Michigan [http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57606/2/skonrath_2.pdf umich.edu] Retrieved 2012-01-22 His description, at least in the contents page of Essays in Applied Psycho-Analysis, describes the god complex as belief that one is a god.{{cite book |first=Ernest |last=Jones |title=Essays in Applied Psycho-Analysis |pages=472 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1OZ5NRz3egC |publisher=Lightning Source Inc |date=15 March 2007 |access-date= 2012-01-22 |isbn= 978-1-4067-0338-2}}