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Brian Cox plays the tough patriarch Logan Roy in »Succession«

Photo: Michael Campanella / Getty Images

As the hit HBO drama series "Succession" draws to a close, one of the world's leading addiction treatment centers warns of the widespread "Succession Syndrome." The syndrome describes how successful and affluent households create a "deep-rooted fear of weakness and failure" in their children, reports the Guardian.

"Paracelsus Recovery" is an international center in London and Zurich that offers medical help, therapy and counseling for up to 132,000 dollars (107,000 euros) per week. According to their own statements, almost 40 percent of patients struggle with "succession syndrome" – German a term that refers to a range of mental illnesses and addiction problems that affect children from extremely affluent households.

Physically and emotionally absent parents

The Golden Globe and Emmy-winning series, which tells the story of billionaire patriarch Logan Roy and his power-hungry children, has been hailed as one of the best television series of all time. The themes of the series, including the struggles between the Roy children for control of his media empire, are reminiscent of other dynastic struggles for wealth and power in history.

According to Paracelsus Recovery, however, the series is also an example of the problems that wealthy and powerful families like the Roys face in real life. While children of rich parents grow up with great privileges, many of them suffer from what psychiatrists call "wealthy neglect." In other words, their parents are physically and emotionally absent.

Wealth, the center added, increases the likelihood of alcohol abuse by 27 percent, and narcissistic personality disorders are also prevalent among patients. In »Succession«, this is evident in Kendall's constant alternation between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, Shiv's disregard for other people's feelings, and Roman's inability to connect with others.

"We see so many children from wealthy families suffering from mental health and addiction problems that we have begun to refer to this as succession syndrome," says Jan Gerber, founder and managing director of Paracelsus Recovery. "It is characterized by anxiety, depression, narcissistic personality disorders, and sometimes other conditions such as bipolar disorder, alcohol and drug abuse." He continued: "The success of 'Succession' has highlighted the complicated and potentially harmful effects of coming from an extremely successful family. The Roy children are all very damaged individuals."

Childhood attachment disorders and narcissistic personality traits

Modern parallels to the »Succession« story can be found in the family dramas of global media and other business tycoons. Ahead of Sunday night's series finale, showrunner Jesse Armstrong wrote in the Guardian that "for Logan Roy, [Rupert] Murdoch, [Sumner] Redstone and [Robert] Maxwell, my holy trinity were role models." And the inspiration for Logan's children, he added, "were the children of these magnates."

It is not surprising that "Succession" has been referred to in numerous reports as the "King Lear" of the media empire. Shakespeare's tragedy dealt with the power struggles and conflicts within a family when Lear decided to divide his kingdom among his daughters based on their public declarations of love to him.

To explain the causes and effects of these struggles, Paracelsus Recovery reports that there is a link between attachment disorders in childhood, later feelings of inner loneliness, and narcissistic personality traits. Studies have shown that people become less empathetic the more wealth they acquire. The children grow up in households where pressure, isolation and a sense of superiority prevail, according to the center.

"Although this syndrome only affects a relatively small part of society, these people can later hold positions of real power and authority – in many cases employing thousands of people – so we all have an interest in their mental well-being," Gerber said.

"These families tend to function more like a company than a community, which makes bonding difficult. For both parents and children, these internal problems can form the basis of conditions such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and codependency."

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