Narcissism (psychology)

Narcissus, the Greek hero after whom narcissism is named, became obsessed with his own reflection.

Narcissism is a term first used in relation to human psychology by Sigmund Freud. It was named after the figure of Narcissus in Greek mythology (right) who was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. It is a character trait concerned with self regard. Everyone has some degree of narcissism. However, narcissism can manifest as a severe personality disorder such as NPD.

Primitive defense mechanisms

Narcissism is a defense mechanism related to the splitting defense mechanism. The narcissist fails to regard other people, situations, or entities (political parties, countries, races, his workplace) as a compound of good and bad elements. He either idealises his object, or devalues it. Things are seen in black and white; the object is either all good or all bad. The bad attributes are always projected, displaced, or otherwise externalised. The good ones are internalised in order to support the inflated (grandiose) self-concepts of the narcissist and his grandiose fantasies, as well as to avoid the pain of deflation and disillusionment. ^{[citation needed]}

The narcissist pursues narcissistic supply (attention, both positive and negative) and uses it to regulate his, often, fragile and fluctuating sense of self-worth.^{[citation needed]}

Narcissism and the family

An integrative framework

Cassidy's (1988) study, of the relationship between self-esteem, at age five and six years, and the quality of early mother-child attachment, supports Bowlby's theory that construction of the self is derived from early daily experience with attachment figures. The results of the study support Bowlby's conception of the process through which continuity in development occurs, and of the way early child-mother attachment continues to influence the child's conception and estimation of the self across many years. The working models of the self derived from early mother-child inter-action organise and help mold the child's environment "by seeking particular kinds of people and by eliciting particular behavior from them" (Cassidy, 1988, p.133). Cassidy points out that very young children have few means of learning about themselves other than through experience with attachment figures.

She suggests that if infants are valued and given comfort when required, they come to feel valuable; conversely, if they are neglected or rejected, they come to feel worthless and of little value.

In an examination of developmental considerations, Bednar, Wells, and Peterson (1989) suggest that feelings of competence and the self-esteem associated with them are enhanced in children when their parents provide an optimum mixture of acceptance, affection, rational limits and controls, and high expectations. In a similar way, teachers are likely to engender positive feelings when they provide such a combination of acceptance, limits, and meaningful and realistic expectations concerning behavior and effort (Lamborn et al., 1991). Similarly, teachers can provide contexts for such an optimum mixture of acceptance, limits, and meaningful effort in the course of project work as described by Katz and Chard (1989)." (Distinctions between Self-Esteem and Narcissism: Implications for Practice - ERIC database)

Kohut regarded Narcissism as the final product of the failing efforts of parents to cope with the needs of the child to idealise and to be grandiose (for instance, to be omnipotent).

Idealisation is an important developmental path leading to Narcissism.

At first, the child idealises his parents. As he grows, he begins to notice their shortcomings. He withdraws part of the idealising libido from the images of the parents, which is conducive to the natural development of the Superego. The Narcissistic sector in the child's psyche remains vulnerable throughout its development until the Child re-internalises the ideal parent image.

Most sources agree that a loss (real or perceived) at a critical junction in the psychological development of the Child - forces him to refer to himself for nurturing and for gratification. The Child ceases to trust others and his ability to develop object love or to idealize is hampered. He is constantly shadowed by the feeling that only he can satisfy his emotional needs and his regards.

The same effect can be attributed to traumatic disappointment by objects.

Psychiatric thought

Freud

File:Sigmund-Freud-1907.jpg

Sigmund Freud, 1907

Main article: Sigmund Freud.

Freud (1856-1939) is credited with the creation of the first coherent theory of narcissism. He described transitions from subject-directed libido to object-directed libido through the intermediation and agency of the parents. To be healthy and functional, the transitions must be smooth and unperturbed; otherwise neuroses result. Thus, if a child fails to attract the love and attention of his or her desired objects (e.g., of his parents), the child regresses to a detrimental narcissistic phase.

Psychoanalysis, a school of psychiatry established by Freud himself, says that we are all narcissistic at an early stage of our lives. As infants we all feel that we are the center of the universe, the most important, omnipotent and omniscient of beings (though we may also feel that all or other people share our omnipotence). At that phase of our development, we perceive our parents as mythical figures, immortal and awesomely powerful, but existing solely to cater to our needs, to protect and nourish us. Both the self and others are viewed immaturely, as idealisations. This, in the psychodynamic models, is called the phase of "primary" narcissism.

The first occurrence of narcissism is adaptive in that it trains the child to love an available object (his or her self) and to feel gratified. But regressing from a later stage to "secondary narcissism" is maladaptive. It is an indication of failure to direct the libido to the "right" targets (to objects, such as the child's parents).

If this pattern of regression persists, a "narcissistic neurosis" is formed. The narcissist stimulates his self habitually in order to derive pleasure and gratification. The narcissist prefers fantasy to reality, grandiose self-conception to realistic appraisal, masturbation and sexual fantasies to mature adult sex and daydreaming to real life achievements.

Jung

Jung (1875-1961) pictured the psyche as a repository of archetypes (conscious representations of adaptive behaviors). He postulated that fantasies are a way of accessing these archetypes and releasing them. In Jungian psychology, regressions are compensatory processes intended to enhance adaptation; not methods of obtaining or securing a steady flow of gratification.

Freud and Jung disagree about introversion. Introversion is indispensable to narcissism, while extroversion is a necessary condition for orienting to a libidinal object. Freud regards introversion as an instrument in the service of a pathology. Jung, in contrast, regards introversion as a useful tool in the service of the endless psychic quest for adaptation strategies (narcissism being one such strategy)..

Jung acknowledged that the very need for a new adaptation strategy means that adaptation has failed. So although introversion per se is by definition not pathological, the use made of it can be pathological.

Jung distinguished introverts (those who habitually concentrate on their selves rather than on outside objects) from extroverts (the opposite). Introversion is considered a normal and natural function in childhood, and remains normal and natural even if it dominates later mental life. To Jung, pathological narcissism is a matter of degree: it is exclusive and all-pervasive.

Kohut

Kohut said that pathological narcissism is not the result of excessive narcissism, libido or aggression, it is rather the result of defective, deformed or incomplete narcissistic (self) structures. He observed that children entertain notions of greatness (primitive or naïve grandiosity) mingled with magical thinking, feelings of omnipotence and omniscience and a belief in their immunity to the consequences of their actions. He went on to claim that these, along with the child's feelings regarding its parents (which are also painted by it with a brush of omnipotence and grandiosity) — coalesce and form two core constructs which he named: the Grandiose Exhibitionistic Self and the Idealised Parent Image.

The child's feelings towards its parents are reactions to their responses (affirmation, buffering, modulation or disapproval, punishment, even abuse). Their responses help maintain the child's self-structures. Without the appropriate responses, grandiosity, for instance, cannot be transformed into adult ambitions and ideals.

To Kohut, grandiosity and idealisation are positive childhood development mechanisms. Even their reappearance in transference should not be considered a pathological narcissistic regression.

Kohut says that narcissism (subject-love) and object-love coexist and interact throughout life. He agrees with Freud that neuroses are accretions of defence mechanisms, formations, symptoms, and unconscious conflicts. But he identified a whole new class of disorders: the self-disorders. These are the result of the perturbed development of narcissism.

Self disorders are the results of childhood traumas of either not being "seen", or of being regarded as an "extension" of the parents, a mere instrument of gratification. Such children develop to become adults who are not sure that they do exist (lack a sense of self-continuity) or that they are worth anything (lack of stable sense of self-worth, or self-esteem).

Horney

File:Karen Horney1.jpg

Karen Horney

Horney said that personality was shaped mainly by environmental issues, social or cultural. Horney believed that people, especially children, needed to be secure, loved, protected and generally emotionally nourished. Horney's theory dictates that narcissism and other personality traits such as aggression are necessary, in moderation, to achieve one's ultimate goal; Self-actualization. Horney argued that anxiety is a primary reaction to the very dependence of the child on adults for his survival.

Karen Horney worked extensively in defining neurosis; unlike her contemporaries she believed neurosis to be a multi-faceted, composite and a commonly occuring phenomenon throughout human life. She eventually developed her theory to map out a total of ten points - later condensing these into three key areas: Compliance, Aggression and Withdrawal.

Narcissism is significant in that parts of it, albeit expressed in unusual fashion, accord to Horney's theory. Simply put; defenses such as narcissism are developed to compensate for the intolerable and gradual realisation that adults are merely human. Thus, a person can become capricious, unfair, unpredictable, and very non-dependable. According to Horney, these defenses provide a sense of security; a "buffer" around reality protecting the psyche from general harm.

Karen Horney's concept of narcissism is used in a trait theory of personality called "NPA personality theory".

Kernberg

Kernberg regards the division between Object Libido (energy directed at people) and Narcissistic Libido (energy directed at the self) as artificial. Whether the child develops a normal or a pathological form of narcissism depends on the relations between the representations of the self (the image of the self that the child forms in his or her mind) and the representations of objects (the images of other people that the child forms in his or her mind). It is also dependent on the relationship between the representations of the self and real objects. The development of pathological narcissism is also determined by instinctual conflicts related both to the libido and to aggression.

Kernberg's concept of Self is closely related to Freud's concept of Ego. The Self is dependent upon the unconscious, which exerts a constant influence on all mental functions. Pathological narcissism, therefore, reflects a libidinal investment in a pathologically structured Self and not in a normal, integrative structure of the Self. The narcissist suffers from a Self, which is devalued or fixated on aggression.

All object relations of such a pathological Self are detached from the real objects (because they often cause hurt and narcissistic injury) and involve dissociation, repression, or projection onto other objects. Narcissism is not merely a fixation on an early developmental stage. It is not confined to the failure to develop intra-psychic structures. It is an active, libidinal investment in a deformed structure of the Self.

The covert or inverted Narcissist

A co-dependent who emotionally depends exclusively on classic narcissists is sometimes referred to as a covert narcissist (Elan Golomb and Alexander Lowen) or co-narcissist (Alan Rappoport) or inverted narcissist (Sam Vaknin).

References

Alford, C. Fred. Narcissism: Socrates, the Frankfurt School and Psychoanalytic Theory, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0300040644
Fairbairn, W. R. D. An Object Relations Theory of the Personality, New York, Basic Books, 1954 ISBN 0465051634
Freud, S. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 7, London, Hogarth Press, 1964. ISBN 0465097081
Freud, S. On Narcissism, Standard Edition, Vol. 14, pp. 73-107.
Golomb, Elan. Trapped in the Mirror : Adult Children of Narcissists in Their Struggle for Self, Quill, 1995. ISBN 0688140718
Greenberg, Jay R. and Mitchell, Stephen A. Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1983. ISBN 0674629752
Grunberger, Bela. Narcissism: Psychoanalytic Essays, New York, International Universities Press, 1979. ISBN 0823634914
Guntrip, Harry. Personality Structure and Human Interaction, New York, International Universities Press, 1961. ISBN 0823641201
Horowitz, M.J. (1975). "Sliding Meanings: A defense against threat in narcissistic personalities". International Journal of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 4, 167.
Jacobson, Edith. The Self and the Object World, New York, International Universities Press, 1964. ISBN 0823660605
Kernberg, O. Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism, New York, Jason Aronson, 1975. ISBN 0876681771
Klein, Melanie. The Writings of Melanie Klein, Ed. Roger Money-Kyrle, 4 vols., New York, Free Press, 1964-75. ISBN 0029184606
Kohut, H. The Analysis of the Self, New York, International Universities Press, 1971. ISBN 0823601455
Lasch, Christopher. The Culture of Narcissism, New York, Warner Books, 1979. ISBN 0393307387
Livesley, W.J., Jang, K.L., Jackson, D.N. and P.A. Vernon (1993). “Genetic and environmental contributions to dimensions of personality disorder”. American Journal of Psychiatry 150, 1826-1831. Abstract online. Accessed June 18, 2006.
Lowen, Alexander. Narcissism : Denial of the True Self, Touchstone Books, 1997. ISBN 0743255437
Millon, Theodore (and Roger D. Davis, contributor). Disorders of Personality: DSM IV and Beyond, 2nd ed., New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1995. ISBN 047101186X
Millon, Theodore. Personality Disorders in Modern Life, New York, John Wiley and Sons, 2000. ISBN 0471237345
Ronningstam, Elsa F. (ed.). Disorders of Narcissism: Diagnostic, Clinical, and Empirical Implications, American Psychiatric Press, 1998. ISBN 0765702592
Rothstein, Arnold. The Narcissistic Pursuit of Reflection, 2nd revised ed., New York, International Universities Press, 1984.
Schwartz, Lester (1974). "Narcissistic Personality Disorders -- A Clinical Discussion". Journal of American Psychoanalytic Association 22, 292-305.
Stern, Daniel. The Interpersonal World of the Infant: A View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology, New York, Basic Books, 1985. ISBN 0465095895
Vaknin, Sam. Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited, Skopje and Prague, Narcissus Publications, 1999-2005. ISBN 8023833847
Zweig, Paul. The Heresy of Self-Love: A Study of Subversive Individualism, New York, Basic Books, 1968. ISBN 0691013713

External links