What Experts Say II - Normal Behaviour or a Disorder?

At the beginning of this blog, I posed that while some fans and fandoms of musicians have normal levels of interactions with their ‘idols’, others don’t. The enthusiasm falls on a spectrum where one end is a healthy level of appreciation and interest, while the other side is an obsessive engrossment, to the extent that it can interfere with a person’s life and present potential dangers to the focus of their ‘stanning’.

One way that obsessive engrossment with a celebrity, or in the case of this blogs focus, a famous musician, can be defined is the concept of celebrity worship and celebrity worship syndrome. While idolising celebrities is a normal part of adolescent’s development for many, the interaction of fandom and celebrity worship syndrome can be an indicator of mental health issues in teenagers.

An article by the Newport Academy (2021) presents celebrity worship and its three types in a rather clear manner. The three types are:

1. Entertainment-Social: This is the lowest level of celebrity worship, where people find it fun to follow their favourite stars and talk about them with friends. People in this category are associated with extraversion, meaning they are more outgoing, lively, and optimistic.

2. Intense-Personal: This is where being a fan, or a stan, starts taking on its more problematic forms. Characterised by having obsessive feelings about celebrities, such as thinking that a pop star is their soulmate. This level of celebrity worship is linked to mental health issues and is associated with neuroticism.

3. Borderline-Pathological: The last level of celebrity worship is where things truly become dangerous. At this level people exhibit extreme thoughts and fantasies about celebrities, such as willingness to spend thousands of dollars to buy an item used by their idol. This level is linked with psychoticism traits, being impulsive, egocentric, and antisocial.

It is thought that instead of celebrity worship syndrome causing mental health issues that it is a symptom of existing mental health issues. However, there is still thought to be a negative loop between these two aspects where celebrity worship and obsessive behaviour exacerbates mental health problems while once again can lead to stronger celebrity worship.

Additionally, celebrity worship syndrome, at least on some level, is not that uncommon. In the original study by McCutcheom and Maltby (2003), 1/3 of the participants scored on the second and third level (Intense-Personal and Bordeline-Pathological).

Source

1. The Connection Between Celebrity Worship Syndrome and Teen Mental Health

2. The association of celebrity worship with problematic Internet use, maladaptive daydreaming, and desire for fame

Additional related sources

1. Celebrity Worship Syndrome

2. “I’m Your Number One Fan”— A Clinical Look at Celebrity Worship