Have you ever met a person who always makes things about themselves? Self-obsessed, trying to keep the spotlight focused on themselves, we have all encountered such personalities. While many might think this is plain old narcissism, they could also be showing signs of main character syndrome. People often use these two different personality disorders as synonyms due to their similar symptoms, but they shouldn’t.
Main character syndrome (MCS) and narcissism are both self-focused behaviours shown by individuals. Both of these have similar tell-tell points but stem from different needs. Let’s discover how these two are different from one another!
Main Character Syndrome V/S Narcissism
Here’s how these two behaviours are different from each other!
- Motivation: MCS is usually driven by a desire for connection, validation, and a sense of purpose while narcissism is based on insecurities. People with main character syndrome make attempts at adding more excitement and meaning to their daily lives. On the other hand, narcissistic people have fragile egos. It leads them to an exaggerated sense of self-importance or even to seeking empathy from others.
- Behaviour: Those with main character syndrome, express themselves with specifically crafted scenarios or even social media posts. They do this in order to make them teh centre of everyone’s attention. Narcissistic people present and express themselves with entitlement and often disregard others’ feelings. They also find it hard to handle criticism of any kind.
- Impact: People with MCS are often extremely creative with their self-expression, but can often be disappointed when reality doesn’t match their narrative. Others might also find these people’s personality as inauthentic or fake. In the case of narcissism, these people tend to have bad and destructive relationships. Whether it is their career or life, they are more prone to ruining their relationships, often leaving people hurt.