The downside to self-praise

[mami_chilena]

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a debate that arose many controversial issues about self-praising.

For one, and frankly the most talked-about topic, is the downside to it.
There are many people who reach the pinnacles of glory by dint of their destiny and yet have their feet firmly on the ground. Then there are people who struggle a

Comments

[babyslime]

This is interesting to me because one of the major issues that my therapist worked on with me was getting me TO self-praise. She saw people who could self-praise and accept praise/compliments from others as healthy, stable people with normal egos... and I see it as you characterize it above: vanity and narcissism.

She had all these exercises for me. I even had homework. We spent WEEKS, even MONTHS on this and never got through it. I had to bring home pieces of paper to remind myself what to say the next time someone compliments me :
"Thanks, that's true about me". And I could not do it. Could. Not. Do. It.
So I don't actually think it's true that "psychologists" believe self-praise to belie narcissism and delusions of grandeur... I think, as she said, it's actually a sign of good mental health and good ego. It's only when someone transforms what is otherwise simple praise into an illusion of constant and oppressive superiority that it begins to transform into something more sinister.