Concept
Destructive narcissism
Herbert Rosenfeld's term, from his 1971 paper on the life and death instincts, for a narcissism in which it is the destructive, omnipotent parts of the self that are idealized, rather than the good ones as in libidinal narcissism. These parts are felt as a source of superior strength and are turned against the dependent, loving part of the self and its ties to good objects, which they hold captive. Rosenfeld likened the organization to a gang or mafia that threatens any part tempted to seek help, and saw in it the clinical face of the death instinct, fused with envy of what is good and life-giving. In analysis it shows as contempt for the analyst's help and a need to spoil progress.
Read more- Broader concept
- Narcissism
- Introduced by
- Herbert Rosenfeld
- Key works
- 2
- Related
- Death drive
introduced by
- Herbert Rosenfeld 1971 In his 1971 congress paper Rosenfeld set the destructive aspect of narcissism beside the libidinal one he had described in 1964: an idealization of the omnipotent destructive parts of the self, organized like a gang against the dependent self. He returned to it in the chapter on destructive narcissism and the death instinct in Impasse and Interpretation (1987).
derives from
- Death drive 1971 Rosenfeld framed destructive narcissism as a clinical approach to Freud's theory of the life and death instincts: the idealized destructive narcissistic organization is where, in his account, the death instinct shows itself in the clinic.