Profs and Pints - Richmond

Profs and Pints Richmond presents: “Reflecting on Narcissists,” a look at the myth, reality, and treatment of clinical narcissism, with Brian A. Sharpless, licensed clinical psychologist, visiting research fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London, and author of Psychodynamic Therapy Techniques.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/richmond-narcissists .]

Do narcissists really love themselves? Are they truly self-confident? Are celebrities more narcissistic than the rest of us? Does a person’s social media use—and the number of Facebook “friends” they have or selfies they post—tell us anything about their own levels of narcissism?

These are just a few of the fascinating questions that will be tackled by Brian Sharpless, a regular on the Profs and Pints stage. He will discuss the idea of narcissism, define what "narcissistic personality disorder" means to psychologists and psychiatrists, and summarize what the field knows about this condition and its treatment.

You may be particularly surprised to learn about the different ways that narcissism can manifest, some of which have little to do with the arrogant overconfidence that we associate with the narcissist stereotype. For example, many people with narcissism live their lives with chronic feelings of inadequacy. In order to avoid feeling humiliated, they closely observe others so that they can figure out how they should behave. In fact, some narcissists may actually look “depressed” to an untrained eye.

Finally, Dr. Sharpless will give some practical tips and techniques to help you deal with the narcissists in your own life. You'll walk out with a different perspective on yourself and other people, with new knowledge that may help you maintain healthier relationships. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: From "Echo and Narcissus," a 1903 oil painting by John William Waterhouse.

Profs and Pints Richmond presents: “’Lunacy’ in Virginia History,” on involuntary commitments to psychiatric institutions and what they tell us about life and values in their time, with Alison Bell, professor of anthropology at Washington and Lee University and teacher of a course on the anthropology of American history.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/richmond-lunacy .]

Professor Alison Bell approaches American history as an anthropologist, seeking to understand past culture and behavior as well as what people had believed to be true and why they had acted how they did. In researching her book The Vital Dead: Making Meaning, Identity, and Community through Cemeteries, she encountered the burial plots at the former Western State Lunatic Asylum in Staunton and became curious about what led people to be committed to such institutions.

Since 2019 Professor Alison Bell and her students have analyzed the transcripts of involuntary commitment hearings for 400 Virginians “charged with lunacy” in the late 1800s. Half of the hearings involved White people sent to Western State and half involved Black state residents deemed “colored persons of unsound mind” and sent to Central State Lunatic Asylum in Petersburg. All had been brought before justices of the peace who deposed physicians, neighbors, and family members using a standard questionnaire.

The records of those proceedings offer extraordinary glimpses into the social, cultural, and economic dynamics of postbellum Virginia communities as well as those communities’ beliefs about the causes of mental illness.

On a superficial level, the justices of the peace obtained the accused’s name, place of birth, residence, age, marital status, number of children, and occupation, as well as the value of any property they held.

In probing into what had brought them there, justices asked about specific indications of insanity, supposed cause of the disease, and any disposition to violence. The justices also asked what if any restraints or curative means had been used, whether the accused was “epileptic, paralytic, or addicted to masturbation,” and whether the accused was “noisy, filthy, quarrelsome, or destructive.”

Inconsistencies in treatment abounded. Some people were whisked off to the asylum in short order for having a “vacant abstracted manner” or for mumbling or “talking foolishly,” while some people remained within communities for decades after being deemed “violent lunatics.”

A well-to-do White man was accused of lunacy for preparing and eating his own corn meal while a Black woman was suspected of lunacy for allegedly exhibiting “indifference to her child.” Hypothesized causes of insanity included an “undue amount of religion” and fixation on a deceased husband.

Professor Bell’s discussion of these cases will drive home how much defining “normalcy” has ever been a subjective matter. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: The site of the former Western State asylum in Staunton, Va. (Photo by Alison Bell.)