All that glitters is not gold. This statement is best highlighted by the story of Anna ‘Delvey’ Sorokin, a 27-year-old girl who rose to fame by scamming New York’s richest and facing grand larceny charges that amount to millions of dollars (Pressler, 2022). There have been countless narratives trying to decipher how. And not surprisingly, seeing as she got away with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of money, staying in the most expensive hotels in Manhattan, and renting a private jet worth around $30,000, all without raising a single finger to pay. But the oddly unexplored question is why.
Why when she had a perfectly loving and supportive family who had her back, a charming personality, and the talent to make it big in her world did she chase the high-end life of filthy rich socialites? Why did she feel the need to lie, scam, and trick her family, friends, and some of the most influential people in the world when she could have a perfectly normal and average life if she just stuck to her limits? And the answer to that question is in the question itself. She never wanted to live an ordinary life. She was always lost in her dreams of living the life she saw in magazines and newspapers and unlike the rest of us who simply cast those dreams aside as fantasies, she materialized those dreams and tried her best to make them come true. Many people admire her for this and there are people who condemn it. But very little identify the tell-tale symptom that she has been displaying all her life- grandeur delusions of her capabilities.
The essential feature of Narcissistic Personality Disorder as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) is “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts”. She displays almost all of the nine criteria used to diagnose a person to be narcissistic. These include having a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expecting to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements), being preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, and beauty, believing that she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions), requiring excessive admiration and having a sense of entitlement (i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations), being interpersonally exploitative (i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve her ends), lacking empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others, is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of her, and shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes. (American Psychiatric Society, 2013).
Unfortunately, all these characteristics of Anna have been glorified and made out to seem as though they are something to be coveted. People are admiring her ‘passion, ambition, and persistence’ as admirable qualities instead of recognizing them for what they are, the detrimental effects of a chronic mental health condition that has cost her freedom, peace of mind, and a chance at a normal, sheltered life, which trust me, is something we must all be immensely grateful for. Anna Delvey got her wish. She got the attention of the entire world, and that might have been the worst thing to ever happen to her.
References:
1. Pressler, J. (2022, February 8). How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People. The Cut. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://www.thecut.com/article/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html
2. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
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