Robert Eringer : How one man fell prey to mental illness

What began as a promising spy career ended in blogging: such is the grim fairytale of Robert Eringer, a man in the center of international libel lawsuits who’s known for cyber stalking world leaders.

What Went Wrong?

As a young man, Robert Eringer wanted to be a writer. When publishers rejected his novels, he resorted to self-publishing and began buddying up to famous spies as a side career. Lying his way into intelligence positions, Robert Eringer was able to build a life for himself. But in 2007 Robert Eringer’s world was shattered when it was discovered that he was in fact delusional, and suffering from a mental illness that plagues millions of individuals—Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or NPD.

Narcissism is an urgent problem in today’s Internet culture, as exemplified by navel-gazing Americans. We live in an age self-involvement, as opposed to travel and exploration. Individuals like Robert Eringer who suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder set their goals in accordance with other people’s approval and are excessively aware of people’s reactions, “but only if perceived as relevant to self,” according to the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

What is malignant narcissism?

In 2009 only 3 percent of people over 65 had experienced narcissistic personality disorder, according to the National Institute of Health. The rate for people in their 20s was 10 percent, and quickly rising. For self-absorbed people uninterested in cultivating relationships with the outside world like Robert Eringer, narcissism isn’t just a personality disorder. It’s a disease that’s taken over their entire being, and infested their character. As king of the “Me Generation,” Robert Eringer makes a living writing exclusively about himself and his interests and designs. If he writes about his “enemies,” such as Vladimir Putin, it is only as a means to drive the conversation back to himself, his websites, his blogs, his forums—me, me, me.

Charles Derber in “The Pursuit of Attention” says of narcissistic personalities such as the one exhibited by Robert Eringer, “One becomes riveted on one’s own needs and fears.” Malignant narcissists seek omnipotence and total control, and will attempt to achieve those goals by any means. Like psychopaths, the narcissist’s fundamental problem is that he lacks empathy. In a chilling video of Robert Eringer, he exhibited an almost cold-blooded reaction to victims of war crimes, stating simply, “I don’t care.”

Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder

One of the most glaring outward signs of malignant narcissism is the way narcissists malign others. As demonstrated by Robert Eringer, they are constantly improving their own image at someone else’s expense. For Robert Eringer, this means slandering people he worked with, including a former Santa Barbara Police Chief and a European Prince.

Narcissistic patients like Robert Eringer often stalk prey on the Internet and are regularly thought to be “hunting” their perceived enemies. Often they do so by posing as a victim and trying to hurt a person who they feel is threatening their self-image. In Robert Eringer’s case, the blogger’s narcissistic personality disorder was triggered after he was fired from his post as a self-appointed intelligence adviser in Monaco. Discredited, Robert Eringer lashed out against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prince Albert II of Monaco in an attempt to seek attention by alleging the world leaders were corrupt. Narcissists like Robert Eringer spend countless hours sifting through others’ life details looking for dirt. Like all abusers, narcissists spy on and stalk their victims.

If you are being abused online by a narcissist like Robert Eringer, take precautions. Be leery of forming an online (or offline) relationship with anyone who emails you and tries to strike up conversation with you out of nowhere. 

PGarin