Echoist: when lack of self-confidence takes over
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Even if this echoist phenomenon is still unknown, it tends to develop widely, in particular through social networks ; they make us more and more similar to each other and tend to standardize us. So what is the Echo Syndrome, what is its origin and is it really a psychological disorder?
Being an echoist: what is the Echo syndrome?
An echoist is a person who is completely under the influence and control by a charismatic and narcissistic figure. Thus, he or she no longer lives for their own sake, but to please this figure and carry out their orders.
In psychology, the term “echoism” develops quite late but explains the phenomenon well. Indeed, people suffering from Echo syndrome are often easily influenced, sensitive, impressionable, rather alone, in lack of confidence and above all weak emotionally and affectionately. They therefore seek a model, a figure to admire and follow in order to feel “admitted” and accepted. After that, they dedicate themselves body and soul to this person by speaking through them and according to their values and their desires. They feed emotionally on their model.
While they actually live under the yoke of an unhealthy influence, people affected by Echo syndrome do not perceive it at all like that; that is why it is hard to make them open their eyes to reality or hear reason. They totally admire the presence and eloquence of the individual they have chosen to follow blindly without ever questioning their decisions.
The origin of Echo syndrome comes from the Greco-Roman gods. Echo was a mountain nymph that Hera punished for having slept with her husband Zeus. In retribution, she deprived her of her words: she could only speak to repeat the last words of a conversation. So, she could never make her “voice” heard again, nor her opinions, her needs and her values, hence the name “Echo syndrome”.
This is typically what takes place in sects with gurus or in totalitarian regimes with dictators, like Hilter in particular. Thousands of people follow a single person and do not make their “voices” heard, they simply fall into line.
Is Echo a psychological disorder?
Echo syndrome is not a psychological disorder. This is something that people should understand. Echoism is only a character trait, which conforms to a type of unskillful survival mechanism; we can sum it up as follows: “If I want to be sure of receiving affection, I must ask as little as possible and give everything I can”.
This idea is articulated by the effect of a childhood based on this type of insecure attachment. In it, one or more narcissistic parents buried all the emotional needs of the child. Gradually, people affected by Echo syndrome learn to no longer have a voice, to live in silence, not to interfere too much. Therefore, they become the perfect target of narcissistic people, with whom to deploy all their tricks.
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