ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the significant impact of malignant narcissism on religious and secular institutions. It covers a review of the literature, defines and provides context for the disorder, and offers a psychological autopsy of a fictional persona with malignant narcissism in Christian church leadership. The profile for this psychological autopsy is derived from clinical material retrieved from public sources and woven into a composite profile. Through the biography of Bishop Frederick Ladysmith-Jones, we see the developmental trajectory of the ways in which destructive leadership can erode a religious community. Implications of this psychoanalytic case study can be applied to forensic psychology and cult studies.
