Dr. Phil, Nadya Suleman's "Pollyanna Disconnect" and Her Push for Stardom

Bar none, Nadya Suleman just may be the most famous woman in the world at the moment. Given the media furor over the birth of her surprise octuplets (she was supposed to be the mother of septuplets, but in the crowded womb, they missed one until the actual birthing) and the subsequent public curiosity and outrage at just about everything that led up to and has happened since the births of those eight babies, Nadya Suleman has been the center of attention. Friday night on "Larry King Live," Dr. Phil McGraw attempted to get a handle on the situation as well.

Dr. Phil McGraw believes that Nadya Suleman has a "Pollyanna Disconnect," where she has a persistent naïve worldview that affects her decision-making. Nadya Suleman was a guest on the "Dr. Phil" show this week and she confided in him that she was afraid that Kaiser Permanente, the health care provider that oversees the hospital where the octuplets are being cared for, may not allow them to go home.

It seems that Kaiser Permanente was worried about the living conditions that the babies would be subjected to when they arrive at Nadya Suleman's current residence. Suleman, her mother and six children - all under the age of seven years -- live in a three-bedroom house. Most, including Kaiser Permanente, find the condition a bit cramped already - and none to orderly, according to the view in a radaronline.com video -- without the additional children.

Victor Munoz, spokesman for Nadya Suleman, told Dr. Phil that Kaiser Permanente would at present be willing to allow one of the children to go home. But no more than that.

Munoz also said that Suleman was looking at several houses and would probably make a decision in the next couple days as to which one she would lease.

Dr. Phil showed clips of interviews with Nadya Suleman where she argued with her mother, Angela, over the responsibility of the children. Angela Suleman told her daughter she could have left them frozen or could have given them up for adoption. Nadya wasn't hearing any of it, talking over her mother, saying she couldn't "unring the bell" and "they'll destroy them" (speaking of in vitro eggs) repeatedly.

After speaking with Victor Munoz, Dr. Phil spoke with Gloria Allred. He asked why the situation with Angels in Waiting, for whom Allred is an attorney, and Nadya Suleman had turned adversarial. Allred said she had no idea, that she had never talked to Suleman and had only talked with Munoz once for a couple minutes. During that brief conversation, he cancelled their appointment.

Angels in Waiting is an organization of pediatric nurses that offered to help Nadya Suleman take care of her children. She turned them down. According to NBCLA, t a press conference afterward, Linda West-Conforti, founder of the non-profit organization, said that Nadya Suleman had asked her to do a reality show with the children. West-Conforti told her no. Gloria Allred said at the same conference that, given the actions of Suleman, Child Services should keep an eye on her for the welfare of the children.

At one point, Dr. Phil said, "I mean, if these children do go home with her, people are going to be watching this. Like it or not, they're going to have to know what's going on behind closed doors to know that these children are OK and that she's going to demonstrate some type of consistency and some type of mental and emotional stability. And that's going to take some help, I know."

And he is absolutely correct. But then what? Suleman is unemployed. She is unmarried. NBCLA reported that Angela Suleman would not be moving into the new home with her daughter and 14 grandchildren. The Sulemans are over $23,000 behind on the mortgage of the house in Whittier, California, where they presently reside. She claims to have been working on her education. But even her mother asked her in one interview, "What were you thinking?"

It seems she was thinking of a career in show business...

Surely, with all the publicity, she should be able to get off of public assistance, which has been the source of most outrage - an unemployed mother of six getting pregnant with eight more? What was she thinking?

Pollyanna Disconnect may not even begin to crack the surface of Nadya Suleman's mental state. With all due respect to Dr. Phil McGraw, one might go so far as to offer up a theory of complete ambitious self-indulgence, where her drive to become famous led her to recklessly consider to submitting to in vitro fertilization not once or twice, but up to eight times. Seeing the public clamor over multiple birth families may have given her the idea. Consider that since the beginning of the coverage of the births of the octuplets, she has mentioned becoming a child care consultant for television and mentioned offering her family up for a reality show, declining help with her children in the process.

Nadya Suleman is narcissism defined. Pollyanna Disconnect is just a part of it. But if becoming famous was her intent, she has definitely achieved it. She is seeing first hand the good side and the dark side of it. Suffering from Pollyanna Disconnect probably makes her impervious to most of the bad. Suffering from Pollyanna Disconnect, it is doubtful that the old admonition of being careful what you wish for has ever held any real meaning for her...

******

Before Gloria Allred left the studio, Dr. Phil asked her to meet with Nadya Suleman and Victor Munoz on behalf of Angels in Waiting. Allred said she would be happy to.

******

Sources:

"Dr. Phil," HARPO Productions

"Larry King Live," CNN Television

NBCLosAngeles.comradaronline.com