What made Benito Mussolini think differently…
By: Nauman Nomi
Tags: Humanity, Thinking, Fascism, World, Psychology

Mussolini, the birth cry of Fascism

Introduction

The term “totalitario” coined in early 1920s by the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini was further described as, “all within the state, none outside the state, none against the state”. The socio-political figure “Benito Mussolini” inspired and provoked other totalitarian states under the leadership of one party government, such as, Nazi in Germany led by Adolph Hitler and Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. The foundation and idea of a “totalitarian state” arises from the Fascist socio-political leader Benito Mussolini.

Early Life

Being the first child, who faced dethronement, Mussolini was a tough and troublesome child to handle. His father, a local blacksmith, used to spend time talking politics in inns and spending money extravagantly on his mistresses. Even of her mother being a school teacher did not help the family to provide with good sustenance. The unrest and turmoil in the family turned the little boy as disobedient, rowdy and aggressive. The frustrations had no other place to be delivered, so he became a bully in the school. Stabbing class fellows and children of his age, with a penknife, was something very normal to Benito Mussolini. Due to lack of social respect, Mussolini was unable to make a circle of friends. He stayed lonely in boarding school as well.

Personality Disorders and Mussolini

As he grew up, the overcompensations of his deprivations turned him out as a conceited personality, and he starting dwelling in vanity which eventually led him to be a narcissist. Firstly, as an adult, while working for the socialist party he used reaction formation and supported the cause he was not in favor of. Being a cold hearted person Mussolini wanted Italy to intervene in WW1. Mussolini, immensely impressed by Marx, wanted Italy to play its lethal part in WW1. Right after when he became renowned, he published with his idea of war, writing in “The People of Italy”, he stated the philosophy of nationalism: “we are all Italians, nothing but Italians”, and this was the birth cry of Fascism.

The psychological background of Mussolini’s thought processes is framed by “Paranoia”. Since his childhood activities, and environment he came from, supported the cause of being a grudge holder and a person who always felt himself as a victim and kept on attacking his hostilities. Mistrusting any associates, he supported Dictatorship and stand himself out to let the Italians know of his capabilities as a dictator. Another psychological disorder that can be vividly observed in his personality was “Antisocial personality disorder”. Since his childhood, Mussolini was incapable of making any good relationships with his colleagues and family members, and this became the root-cause of this personality disorder, but being a highly manipulative person, to satisfy her needs, he trapped his lover in his love and remained involved in adultery with her.

Narcissistic Personality disorder

Talking explicitly about the mental disorders or issues Benito Mussolini suffered through we can figure out the symptoms of each issue vivid in Mussolini’s personality. Labeling Mussolini as a narcissist is never a mislabeling, because the motives of his life and his attitude towards life and towards the society shows what he was. His personality was highly evocative of the symptoms a narcissist should have, his personality exhibited arrogance, domineering behavior and greed, which are the base of a narcissist edifice. One of Mussolini’s words show the arrogance overflowing the bucket, he says, “This is the epitaph I want on my tomb,: here lies one of the most intelligent animals who appeared on the surface of earth.” The excessive conceit and feelings of superiority are very visible from his patterns of thinking.

Unveiling other aspects, a narcissistic personality could have, Mussolini couldn’t bear to cover other dominant factors a person suffering from this disorder could have. Expressing his autocratic, dictatorial and domineering side of personality Mussolini once said, “it is necessary to be very intelligent in the work of repression. All opposition journals have been suppressed and all the anti-fascist leaders dissolved.” Such statements by Mussolini suggests her unconscious inclination of mind towards his likely motives. Along with this, his personality also carries another factor a narcissistic personality might have dominant in his personality. Greed is another strong symptom visible in his personality. He covetously wanted control over everything and for that very purpose he manipulated the system and nation to gain power and wealth. His covetous words are an epitome of his greedy intentions, “Either the government will be given to us or we shall seize in by marching on Rome.”

Paranoid Personality Disorder

Suffering from another dangerous mental disorder “Paranoia”, Mussolini showed mistrust of friends, bearing grudges and feeling victimized. Being a serious patient of Paranoia, Mussolini was deep into the quagmire of this mental disorder. Symptoms of this issue started appearing from the very beginning when his personality started to be shaped. All the three symptoms are very clear and obvious form his early life where he started to hold grudges and attacking people thinking them his envies. He never trusted any associates and hence promoted ultra-authoritarianism instead of working in a democracy. He, manipulated his audience, by his words, and coaxed them not to trust anyone and created an atmosphere of fear and terror. This fear and terror eventually helped him to achieve his goals.

Mussolini, bearing the grudge of being terminated from “The Socialist Party” did his best to spread hatred against them. His words against the envies were revered because of his political appreciation and appraisal. The only thing Mussolini could have done in achieving political power was to spread hatred against his opposition, and he hit a bullseye in doing that. Mussolini was never that humble and kind to express gratitude towards others. The basic drawback of suffering through such a destructive mental disorder was feeling victimized, and this was somehow Mussolini’s personal fear that took the shape of Fascism and became the elemental for humans’ destruction. Through his speeches and texts, Mussolini exploited and convinced the Italian nation that they are at the verge of chaos. They are victimized by global conspiracy and the only thing that can save them is to actively participate in war. His fear of being victimized had always provoked him to deliberately attack the opponent without any confirmation of his intents, and this could be seen, as an example, in his early life of stabbing his classmates too.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

A very major issue in surviving normally among other humans is of being Anti-social. Mussolini, from the very beginning of his social life was unable to mix-up with other people. This might be because of the fear of being victimized or because of mental instability due to uneasy domestic life. This Anti-social personality disorder in Benito Mussolini sneaks out showing its symptoms in him. Entangled in this personality disorder, Mussolini showed intolerance, irresponsibility and dishonesty, and manipulativeness. Mussolini showed no mercy towards the minorities and ordered a massacre for those against him. Being emotionally detached to what other humans feel helped him in killing a number of innocent breathers. His intolerant behavior can also be seen in his early life when he was a kid and couldn’t bear the follies of his class fellows.

Mussolini never took the responsibility of the circumstances his politics created in maneuvering and dragging Italy in WW2. His dishonesty with the nation and manipulativeness costed lives of thousands Italians. For the sake of his own pride and satisfaction and in order to stretch regime on the globe he dishonestly manipulated the nation. His manipulating quality is often seen from his life incidents, such as, manipulating a woman just to satisfy sexual needs was a very famous story of Mussolini’s life. Mussolini never proclaimed or took any responsibility for the destruction Italy faced, he, instead, rationalized and projected that on to the enemies of Italy.

Dominating Perspectives

The basic issues and forces that coax Mussolini to act in a specific way make him fall under the domain of Psychodynamic perspective and Humanistic perspective. These two perspectives subtly define Mussolini’s personality. Psychodynamic perspective prevails on Mussolini’s personality because we see Mussolini mostly driven by his Id. He never understood or acknowledged what was important to humans as a whole. Another major aspect in his personality was the weaker super-ego which made him manipulate things. Mussolini used a lot of defense mechanism out of which repression, rationalization, reaction formation and projection are more prominent. He used these defense mechanisms to satisfy himself as well as to manipulate the flock of sheep (audience).

Humanistic perspective also plays a vital role in describing Mussolini’s personality. Primary needs create dynamic flaws in one’s personality if not fulfilled in times. Mussolini’s disturbed family life created lapses in formation of a sound personality. Mussolini’s deprivations of physiological needs, safety and security needs, and love and belonging needs never let him built a dominating super-ego and self-esteem (no respect for others). Abraham Maslow’s humanistic perspective stated that the primary needs are the foundation to a well-developed personality. Mussolini, lacking in these areas faced serious issues created by these problematic deprivations.

Therapies suggested for above mentioned disorders

A patient suffering from Paranoid Personality disorder (PPD) can be treated with psychotherapies. A therapist can alter his/her thinking patterns and evoking trust, empathy in the patient. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help the patient to realize his deteriorated fallacies and can change his thinking patterns. The major task to achieve is to make the person believe that the beliefs he has, carry negative influences on him.

Humanistic Therapy would definitely help a person dwelling in conceit and vanity. A narcissist, through this approach, is realized and then emphasized to think rationally and make the right choices. A major aspect of this therapy is to make realize the person that concern and respect for others are also important themes. Psychotherapy, also called talk therapy with the psychologist would play its part in breaking down the current misconception and the personality a narcissist has. Through these therapies, the person can be reformed.

Schema Focused Therapy & CBT would be very helpful for an anti-social personality disorder. The schema-focused therapy along with CBT helps a person identify relationship problems. In combination with Schema Therapy CBT helps the person to realize the problems created by different schemas in his/her life. Schema Therapy uses imagery techniques un unveil suppressed emotions and feelings and intrapersonal techniques by which the patient realizes the harm done by him being antisocial and creating schemas about others.