messiah complex
{{Short description|State of mind where a person believes they are a savior or will be}}
{{For|the comic book|X-Men: Messiah Complex}}
The messiah complex is a mental state in which a person believes they are a messiah or prophet and will save or redeem people in a religious endeavour.{{cite web|url=http://flowpsychology.com/messiah-complex-psychology/|title=Messiah Complex Psychology|work=flowpsychology.com|date=11 February 2014 |access-date=25 July 2015|archive-date=21 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140321235316/http://flowpsychology.com/messiah-complex-psychology/|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|title=Media and Affective Mythologies: Discourse, Archetypes and Ideology in Contemporary Politics|last=Kelsey|first=Darren|date=2017|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-3319607580|location=Cham, Switzerland|pages=155}} The term can also refer to a state of mind in which an individual believes that they are responsible for saving others.
Religious delusion
The term messiah complex is not addressed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), as it is not a clinical term nor diagnosable disorder. However, the symptoms as a proposed disorder closely resemble those found in individuals with delusions of grandeur or with grandiose self-images that veer towards the delusional.{{Cite book|title=Characters on the Couch: Exploring Psychology through Literature and Film: Exploring Psychology through Literature and Film|last=Haycock|first=Dean|date=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1440836985|location=Santa Barbara, CA|pages=151}} An account specifically identified it as a category of religious delusion, which pertains to strong fixed beliefs that cause distress or disability. It is the type of religious delusion that is classified as grandiose while the other two categories are persecutory and belittled.{{Cite book|title=Psychosis and Spirituality: Consolidating the New Paradigm |edition=2d |last=Clarke|first=Isabel|date=2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0470683484|location=Hoboken, NJ|page=240}} According to philosopher Antony Flew, an example of this type of delusion was the case of Paul, who declared that God spoke to him, telling him that he would serve as a conduit for people to change.{{Cite book|title=Resurrected?: An Atheist and Theist Dialogue|last1=Habermas|first1=Gary|last2=Flew|first2=Antony|date=2005|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=0742542254|location=Oxford|pages=9}} The Kent–Flew thesis argued that his experience entailed auditory and visual hallucinations.
Examples
In terms of the attitude wherein an individual sees themselves as having to save another or a group of poor people, there is the notion that the action inflates their own sense of importance and discounts the skills and abilities of the people they are helping to improve their own lives.{{Cite book|title=Helping Without Hurting in Short-Term Missions: Leader's Guide|last1=Corbett|first1=Steve|last2=Fikkert|first2=Brian|date=2014|publisher=Moody Publishers|isbn=978-0802491886}}{{page?|date=December 2022}}
The messiah complex is most often reported in patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.{{cite journal | vauthors = Goldwert M |title= The messiah-complex in schizophrenia |journal= Psychol Rep |date= 1993 | volume = 73| issue = 1|pages=331-335|doi=10.2466/pr0.1993.73.1.331
|PMID=8367574 |PMC= |url= https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2466/pr0.1993.73.1.331|url-access=subscription
}} When a messiah complex is manifested within a religious individual after a visit to Jerusalem, it may be identified as a psychosis known as Jerusalem syndrome.{{cite web |url=http://freethoughtnation.com/dangerous-delusions-the-messiah-complex-and-jerusalem-syndrome/ |title=Dangerous delusions: The Messiah Complex and Jerusalem Syndrome |work=Freethought Nation |access-date=25 July 2015 |archive-date=16 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216080915/http://freethoughtnation.com/dangerous-delusions-the-messiah-complex-and-jerusalem-syndrome/ |url-status=live}}
See also
References<!-- The reference used for citation 7 has no professional basis in psychology; The authors of that reference are specialized primarily in economics. The line in this article that uses that reference refers to an idea that the Messiah Complex is narcissistic in nature. That would not be much of an issue had if this article had been excluded from Wikipedia's 'Narcissism' subcategory. -->
{{reflist}}
{{Narcissism}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messiah Complex}}
{{psych-stub}}