One of Germany’s most celebrated psychoanalysts has said the refusal of Chancellor Angela Merkel to reverse her “completely irrational” migrant policy is evidence of a potential “mental breakdown” that endangers society.

Hans-Joachim Maaz, a German psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and best-selling author, was speaking with Huffington Post Germany when he suggested a “stubborn” Angela Merkel has “lost touch with reality”.

According to Mr. Maaz, the German Chancellor suffers from “narcissism” brought on by people lauding her position as ‘mother of the nation’ and most powerful woman in the world, and calling for her to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He says the “artificially inflated self-image” she labours under leads to the “stubborn attitude” on display by her during the ongoing migrant crisis.

Mr. Maaz claimed that Mrs. Merkel has not, in fact, taken any difficult decisions or displayed genuine leadership. In his opinion she reacts to situations rather than leads, something which testifies to her uncertainty and an underlying lack of self-worth.

The result of this, he says, is that she tends to make “emotional” decisions which meet immediate popular approval instead of making difficult but rational moves. By way of example he cites first Mrs. Merkel policy of phasing out nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a decision she took knowing most Germans backed the move.

The second “emotional” decision she took was to open Germany’s borders to Syrian migrants. Although met with worldwide approval as a “great humanitarian gesture” it was actually poorly thought through, as hindsight confirms. Now her refusal to move represents a danger to Germany.

Mr. Maaz confirmed that overachievers such as Mrs. Merkel, often suffer from “self-esteem deficit, inferiority and insecurity”.

That is not a problem when sufferers enjoy success and recognition, but it does lead to hubris and immunity to criticism which means that when things go wrong people can become prone to “loneliness” and “mental breakdown”. He sees no reason why Mrs. Merkel would react any differently, adding “a psychological or psychosomatic collapse is imminent.”

With ever more defiant reactions to criticism seeing the Chancellor “digging her heels in” rather than change course, Mr. Maaz diagnoses a very real risk to Germany, saying that by insisting on sticking with policies which no longer enjoy the support of a majority, she contributes to the breakdown of German society.