You will often see me challenge group-think and confirmation bias in the field of psychology. I do it in a fairly firm way, because the degree of false information being spread online requires a strong response to counteract the misinformation.

This is also the way I advocate for the people, by telling them the truth. Sometimes this truth isn’t popular, or doesn’t feel good, but it is the truth nonetheless. The reason why sometimes it’s hard for us, as humans, to accept the truth, is because the truth is painful.

We react in narcissistic defenses, and they feed into irrational thinking, that leaves us, ultimately, feeling miserable. In group-think and confirmation bias, irrational thinking becomes truth. There is a nurturing effect, that we have all experienced, in group-think.

Confirmation bias, is like a collective blanket we wrap ourselves around, that ignites our natural instincts that there is strength in numbers. And although there is, indeed, strength in numbers, there can also be ignorance in numbers, which actually isn’t healthy.

It may feel healthy, but it is not, and the resistance to accept the truth of a matter can be downed out by group-think. This is how, and why, corruption occurs. In so many ways, we need to hold ourselves for telling the truth.

When we struggle with narcissism, we repetitively lie to ourselves, which in turn, reduces empathy for oneself and others. It fuels the irrational belief in perfectionism. Perfectionism, for example, literally doesn’t exist, and yet so many of us believe it.

An important step towards recovery is coming to an understanding that you may need to leave the crowd, and possibly be socially rejected, because you are living your truth, which means, holding yourself accountable to your most authentic self.

One’s culture may or may not support personal development and differentiation. In the history of humanity, many have been outcasted for merely being themselves, as in, expressing their truest feelings and expression of inherent identity.

When a culture chastises those who are inherently different from the crowd, then they often discriminate them, which is an act of overt narcissism. It is not healthy, but group-think often dictates that it is.

Cultures may normalize interpersonal violence, and refuse to take responsibility for the intergenerational trauma that it creates. This is so key, really, and often, ignored — for fear of, again, being ridiculed and outcasted. #narcissism #addiction #recovery #codependency