Echo Personality Disorder is a specific and highly differentiated form of
dependency, marked by behaviours of compliance and a need to 'mirror'
significant others -parents, spouse, friends, employer. It has been found that those
with EPD are highly attracted to relationships with individuals who show marked
narcissistic tendencies.
This mirroring behaviour was the reason for choosing the name Echo personality
disorder,
which is based on the Greek myth of Narcissus and Echo. In this story Echo, a
forest nymph, falls completely in love with the egocentric youth Narcissus, and
when he shows clear signs of rejecting her, she persists in her attatchement to
him and will not be moved from her aim. She finally satisfies him with the
masochistic task of echoing back to him all that he says. This too is the
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.
Self descriptions by EPD sufferers focus strongly on percieved fears of
abandonment, rejection, and loss, and these agonizing feelings are the driving
force behind the above-mentioned interpersonal coping style (mirroring others).
These individuals protect themselves from abandonment/rejection by being so
agreeable to others, via their mirroring capacity, that chances of
re-experiencing abandonment agony is brought to a low minimum. Unfortunately
this approach amounts to a false existence with little or no true self expression,
and eventually leads to poor psychological health.
Characteristic experiential history for EPD often involves individuals being
parented by caretakers who are themselves self-absorbed or narcissistic. In
this environment the child learns that asserting ones true self will be met
with a form of (often serial) rejection, to which they respond by substituting
compliant behaviour in place of true selfhood. This 'compliant' behaviour can
then be witnessed as a stable feature throughout the childs growing-up years,
with other school children, and within the family.
Depression, smoking, alcoholism, addictive behaviour all occur with very high
frequency in this disorder.
On a positive note, EPD people are excellent contributors to society, and to family,
as they are found to be very perceptive of the needs of others. The highly
respected religions of Christianity and Buddhism are based on the principles of
altruism and charity, and this is a lifestyle at which the EPD individual can
be said to be expert. Good traits such as these cannot simply be written off
with a simple catch-cry of 'pathology', and if the EPD sufferer could regain
some healthy sense-of-self whilst maintaining these good traits, they would
become paragons of society.