“I felt like I was working all the time watching the show,” he said. Clay Cockrella psychotherapist who specializes in treating wealthy individuals and their families.
“Some of these kids lack ambition,” he said, referring to real-life heirs. “Why go to college? Why start a business? .”
Cockrell said he saw it in the Logan children’s characters in the series. “They have bravado, but there is a lot of shallowness and fear behind it,” he says.
paul hawmeyerA clinical psychologist who also treats the ultra-wealthy, he sees how second-generation members of very wealthy families can be haunted by their heritage, rather than empowered by it. said he was aware.
“They are constantly wondering if they are liked for what they are or if they are liked for the wealth traps that adorn their lives,” he said in an email. commented on the astonishing ability of wealth to isolate a person from his surroundings. “They feel guilty for having so much that the world aspires to, but at the same time they feel flawed, inadequate, and unhappy.”
As well as sowing the seeds of self-doubt and isolation, the prospect of material wealth and its inheritance affects nearly every relationship in “inheritance” (see Tom and Shiv).
“Wealth is power,” said Hawkmeyer, adding that when there is a wealth imbalance in a relationship, there is also an inherent power imbalance. This is what people who inherit family wealth say reflects their own experiences.
“One factor that is particularly tricky in inheriting wealth is how others relate to us because of our wealth. It can be like a tripartite,” he said. Diana ChambersHe describes himself as a third-generation member of a family that once ran a business, and now advises other families on managing their wealth and the emotional baggage that comes with it. “We may question the foundations of our friendships, struggle to decide how much to contribute to common expenses, or be caught up in an undercurrent of envy directed at us.”
Chambers suggests that second- and third-generation wealthy families cultivate independence and a sense of purpose before inheriting the family’s money. Or, as she puts it, “Receiving an inheritance before we’ve found the impetus for our own path can hinder our pursuit of goals that are intrinsically motivating.”
Mental health professionals who treat the ultra-rich say adult children, like the Roys, can become dependent on their parents for the rest of their lives. And it will never abate, Hawkeye said.
Those born to ordinary circumstances may be motivated by ambition, but those born to great wealth tend to be haunted by the constant fear of losing their inheritance, he said. . “Their physical security, tribal identity and worthiness of love are mixed with material validation,” Hawkeye said. “In these families, money and inherent status and power become the measure of human worth.”
One study found that “rich experiences” tended to increase with wealth, but for the adult children of millionaires, wealth seemed to be associated with unhappiness and low self-esteem, suggesting that working with them Mental Health Professionals Say. “It can manifest as impostor syndrome within yourself,” says Cockrell. “They project bravado, self-confidence, and sometimes even cruelty onto others, lest anyone realize that they are really standing on clay feet and could fall at any moment.”
In other words, “Okay, Roman Roy.”
Hawkmeyer argues that the psychological difference between those who acquire wealth and those who inherit it is rooted in whether their sense of agency is internal or external, a concept known as ‘wealth’. said that locus of control.
Hawkmeyer said those who inherit wealth or get married suffer from a field of control from the outside. In other words, they perceive that the outcome of their lives is overwhelmingly determined by circumstances beyond their own agency, which can undermine their self-consciousness.
“When people are overwhelmed by the brilliance of their wealth, they are unable to develop a healthy and resilient self-concept,” he says. “They question their ability to make a substantial contribution to the world. They never know whether the praise they receive for their efforts is based on merit or concession. not.”
The second generation of the Roy family suffered from self-doubt and often struggled to hide their frailty from others. “You build this kind of protective shell, but under it we’re all just little nudity turtles,” Tom Wambuzguns tells his unlucky cousin Greg in season one, explaining the golden rule of the Roy family. increase.
“Succession” skillfully captures the rage, self-doubt and family conflict that characterize the lives of the ultra-rich, say people who worked with them.
“We’re cramming them into one scenario for the Roy family,” he said. Nigel Nicholson, an organizational psychologist who specializes in conflict within family-owned enterprises. Nicholson, professor of organizational behavior at the London Business School, said the transition from owner-founder generation to second generation, as depicted in “Succession,” is a “classic scenario.” “He has two main conflicts that need to be managed. One is parent-child conflict, and he has one between siblings.”
Sibling rivalry is rooted in the psychology of the family ecology and is characterized by younger generations competing for parental resources and interests, while intergenerational rivalry leads parents to question their children’s abilities. Nicholson says it’s because of that.
“The older generation believes they know what’s best for the next generation, and the next generation believes they know what’s best for them,” he said. Or, in the words of Logan Roy to his grown-up children, “I love you, but you guys are not serious people.”
Nicholson’s advice to the Logan Roy generation is simple. Letting go is difficult for a patriarch or matriarch who has dedicated her life to growing her family empire. “Parents need to recognize that their children may have different ideas, even better ideas, and that they have a fresh perspective,” Nicholson said.
What about Roy’s children? Hawkmeyer said they might have been better off obsessing over themselves instead of obsessing over their father.
“The first thing I tell them is to keep an eye on their father,” said Hawkmeyer, who may have malignant narcissism, one of the most “harmful” personality disorders. rice field.
“He is incapable of building relationships with other humans that allow for the vulnerability that is necessary for healthy intimacy,” he says. “They should stop trying to change or expect something different from him and focus on changing themselves and their reactions to him.”
