Dorian Gray syndrome (
DGS) denotes a cultural and societal
phenomenon characterized by a man's extreme
pride in his personal appearance and the fitness of his physique, which is accompanied by difficulties in coping with the requirements of psychological maturation and with the
aging of his body.
The DGS is characterized by a triad of symptoms that overlap, and so combine
diagnostic signs of
dysmorphophobia,
narcissistic character traits, and the immaturity of arrested development, which often are found in
paraphilias.
To preserve ephemeral youth, the man afflicted with DGS tends to consume cosmetic products and services, hair-restoration procedures, anti-impotence drugs, and
cosmetic surgery; hence, he might resist the
psychosomatic and
psychodynamic explanations of the
syndrome.
The term "Dorian Gray syndrome" refers to the protagonist of the novel
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), an exceptionally handsome man whose
hedonism and
excessive self-love proved detrimental to the personal, social, and emotional aspects of his life, and who sought to escape the ravages of time and his own decadent lifestyle by having a supernatural portrait of himself age in his place.
What would what would happen if Donald Trump saw himself as other see him? I think very much like what happened when Dorian Gray saw his portrait at the end of the story.