Summary
Narcissistic neurosis is a term introduced by Sigmund Freud to distinguish the class of neuroses characterised by their lack of object relations and their fixation upon the early stage of libidinal narcissism.[1] The term is less current in contemporary psychoanalysis,[2] but still a focus for analytic controversy.[3]
Freud considered such neurosis as impervious to psychoanalytic treatment, as opposed to the transference neurosis where an emotional connection to the analyst was by contrast possible.[4]
Freud's changing ideas edit
Freud originally applied the term "narcissistic neurosis" to a range of disorders, including perversion, depression, and psychosis.[5] In the 1920s, however, he came to single out "illnesses which are based on a conflict between the ego and the super-ego... we would set aside the name of 'narcissistic psycho-neuroses' for disorders of that kind"[6]—melancholia being the outstanding example.
About the same time, in the wake of the work of Karl Abraham, he began to modify to a degree his view on the inaccessibility of narcissistic neurosis to analytic treatment.[7] However his late lectures from the thirties confirmed his opinion of the unsuitability of narcissistic and psychotic conditions for treatment "to a greater or less extent";[8] as did his posthumous 'Outline of Psychoanalysis'.[9]
Later developments edit
From the twenties onwards, Freud's views of the inaccessibility of the narcissistic neuroses to analytic influence had been challenged, first by Melanie Klein,[10] and then by object relations theorists more broadly.[11]
While classical analysts like Robert Waelder would maintain Freud's delimiting standpoint into the sixties, eventually even within ego psychology challenges to the 'off-limits' view of what were increasingly seen as borderline disorders emerged.[12]
Relational psychoanalysis, like Heinz Kohut, would also take a more positive approach to narcissistic neurosis, emphasising the need for a partial or initial participation in the narcissistic illusions.[13]
In retrospect, Freud's caution may be seen as a result of his unwillingness to work with the negative transference, unlike the post-Kleinians.[14]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Sigmund Freud, Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (PFL 1) p. 471-2
- ^ J. Laplanche/J-B Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis (2012) p. 258
- ^ J-M Quinodoz, Reading Freud (2005) p. 132-4
- ^ Introductory Lectures p. 473 and p. 499
- ^ Quinodoz, p. 70
- ^ Sigmund Freud, On Psychopathology (PFL 10) p. 216
- ^ Sigmund Freud, On Sexuality (PFL 7) p. 139
- ^ Sigmund Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (PFL 2) p. 190
- ^ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 447
- ^ Quinodoz, p. 132
- ^ Neville Symington, Narcissism: A New Theory (1993) p. xi-ii
- ^ Janet Malcolm, Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (1988) p. 129-32
- ^ G. Mascialino, A Critical Appraisal of Relational Approaches to Psychoanalysis (2008) p. 56-8
- ^ Quinodoz, p. 129
Further reading edit
- Karl Abraham, Selected Papers on Psycho-Analysis (New York 1979)
External links edit
- Narcissistic neurosis