Humility and Narcissism in Clergy: a Relational Spirituality Framework

PTSD symptoms in religious leaders: Prevalence, stressors, and associations with narcissism

“…Furthermore, these PTSD symptoms were associated with additional manifestations of job strain, including grandiose and vulnerable dimensions of narcissism, although the cross-sectional design precludes inferences about causality. Further research with multiple time points is needed to assess the direction of these effects or to explore potential mediating variables, but this study’s results are consistent with the conceptualization that the stress of the clergy role may both lead to greater narcissism and be a product of narcissism (Ruffing et al, 2018).…”

“…Hopwood et al, 2011; McCullough et al, 2003), greater narcissistic tendencies have placed these religious leaders at greater risk to be reactive to negative daily events that occur within the ministry. Narcissistic tendencies may also invite greater interpersonal conflict, since previous research indicates that narcissism is related to decreased interpersonal functioning (Bell et al, 2018; Ruffing et al, 2018). A leader with greater levels of exploitativeness, grandiose fantasies, and entitlement rage may not only invite greater levels of relational conflict, but may also be particularly reactive to the inevitable situations in ministry in which their leadership is challenged, hard work seems unrecognized, or a grandiose plan fails.…”

“…Many religious leaders carry a lasting impact from a variety of demanding and overwhelming aspects of their roles. These overwhelming experiences can threaten their sense of effectiveness and potentially their actual effectiveness in ministry, particularly since both narcissism (Bell et al, 2018; Ruffing et al, 2018) and PTSD symptoms (Beck et al, 2009) are associated with reduced interpersonal functioning. It is important for religious bodies to take intentional steps to address these concerning levels of ministry-related stress in their leaders, as well as to better prepare students pursuing vocational ministry.…”

“…Such programs may help leaders to build self-awareness about narcissistic tendencies-both ones that may exacerbate their distress in the face of ministry stressors and ones that may emerge in response to ministry stress. Beyond self-reflection, religious leaders can be encouraged to take up practices that cultivate humility (Wolfteich et al, 2019) and to invest in the relational developmental capacities of secure attachment and differentiation of self that are related to healthy humility (Ruffing et al, 2018).…”

“…Religious leaders not only have high levels of traumatic stress symptoms, but they can also show concerning levels of narcissism (Ruffing et al, 2018). Our theoretical approach to narcissism is primarily influenced by (a) contemporary empirical research on narcissism as a problem of self-esteem regulation (Pincus et al, 2014) and (b) relational psychoanalytic theories of narcissism, particularly Kohutian self-psychology (Sandage et al, 2017).…”