Echo Personality Disorder

The term Echo Personality Disorder was coined by British Psychosynthesis practitioner Patrick Hurst, as a replacement term for \'Inverted Narcissism\' and \'Covert Narcissism\' which later terms place unwarranted emphasis on narcissistic qualities of the personality, which in many of these individuals may not be a feature at all.



EPD is a highly differentiated form of Dependent Personality Disorder, marked by behaviours of compliance and a need to \'mirror\' significant others -parents, spouse, friends, employer. Individuals with EPD may be attracted to relationships with individuals showing marked narcissistic traits -people who need to be mirrored or praised- though this in no way forms a \"standard\" or \"universal pattern\" as is often claimed by theorists. EPD individuals may enter into relationships with a great variety of people, though at core there is a tendency to choose situations in which unrequited love will be the outcome.



These traits -choosing significant relationships where love can never be satisfactorily consumated, and the tendency to mirror significant others- were motivating features for choosing the term Echo Personality Disorder. In Greek mythology Echo was the lover of Narcissus. In this myth Echo, a forest nymph, falls in love with the egocentric youth Narcissus, and when he shows clear signs of rejecting her she persists in her attatchement, and will not be moved from her aim. She finally satisfies herself with the masochistic task of echoing back to him all that he says. This too is a central feature of EPD behaviour in relationships, where the individual will mirror, echo, and compliment another at the expense of their own self-worth and dignity. This echoing behaviour, though, does not exhaust the mythological potential of Echo, even if commentators on the myth narrow their descriptions to this single episode with Narcissus. Echo also has relations with Zeus, Hera, Pan, and Gaia, which have a different...