The Narcissus Defense: Reframing Vanity as a Survival Response
forensic psychology, narcissus, tall poppy syndrome, social dynamics, gaslighting, seattle freeze, male psychology Ameer Kiani forensic psychology, narcissus, tall poppy syndrome, social dynamics, gaslighting, seattle freeze, male psychology Ameer Kiani

The Narcissus Defense: Reframing Vanity as a Survival Response

We use his name as a slur. We call him vain. But as a student of forensic psychology, I look at the crime scene, not just the suspect. Narcissus wasn't suffering from self-obsession; he was suffering from sensory deprivation in a culture addicted to silence. This is my defense of the most misunderstood man in mythology.

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FIREMOUTH AND MOONFACE
creative nonfiction, symbolic psychology, cosmology, identity & memory, myth & culture, personal essays Ameer Kiani creative nonfiction, symbolic psychology, cosmology, identity & memory, myth & culture, personal essays Ameer Kiani

FIREMOUTH AND MOONFACE

My mouth always puts me in a predicament. It is my toxic trait and my favorite flaw. I fall out with people, say cutthroat things, then act like I never said them. But words have meaning. They sit in the gut. They mark us more than we admit. Somewhere between that truth and the scars I have collected, I ended up diving into the esoteric side of the world. Tarot, astrology, numerology, all of it. Not for prediction but for patterns that explain why some people carry volcano energy and others carry moonlight. Firemouth and Moonface started there, as two sides of me wrestling with power, grief and the strange language of symbols.

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