Taking the Whole 'Star Wars' Thing Too Far May Signal More Than Han Solo Mania

Ditching work next week to catch the opening of "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith"? If so, you may have more than a simple case of Han Solo mania. You may be exhibiting symptoms of a psychological disorder. To the uninitiated, the sight of grown men standing on public sidewalks shrouded in Emperor Palpatine cloaks, clobbering one another with plastic light sabers, might seem evidence of extreme but innocent geekdom. According to a psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, however, taking "Star Wars" too far could indicate underlying, and potentially harmful, psychiatric conditions. "What we're dealing with here is a group of people with significantly low self-esteem," said Alfredo Nudman, who is also an assistant professor of psychiatry at Cornell University's school of medicine. Obsessed fans don't really have a clear sense of self, he said, so they identify with fantasy characters onto whom they can project an ideal of "what they should be, what they are not, and what they feel they probably never will be." Source: The New York Sun