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.
Development
1971
introduced by Herbert Rosenfeld
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).
In A Clinical Approach to the Psychoanalytic Theory of the Life and Death Instincts: An Investigation into the Aggressive Aspects of Narcissism (1971);Impasse and Interpretation: Therapeutic and Anti-Therapeutic Factors in the Psycho-Analytic Treatment of Psychotic, Borderline, and Neurotic Patients (1987)
Relations
- 1971 introduced by Herbert Rosenfeld
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).
- 1971 derives from Death drive
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.
Works
- 1971
An invited contribution to the 27th Congress of the International Psycho-Analytical Association in Vienna in 1971, in which Rosenfeld approaches the theory of the life and death instincts through clinical work with narcissistic patients. He distinguishes the libidinal aspects of narcissism, in which the self is idealized through the omnipotent possession of good objects, from its destructive aspects, in which the omnipotent destructive parts of the self are themselves idealized. In destructive narcissism these parts turn against any loving dependence on an object, the analyst included, and against the parts of the self that want it. Rosenfeld likens the narcissistic organization to a gang, run like the mafia, that holds the dependent self captive and punishes any move toward help. The paper introduced the term destructive narcissism; it was reprinted in Melanie Klein Today (1988) and was later taken up by André Green and Otto Kernberg.
- 1987
Rosenfeld's last book, published shortly after his death as the first volume of the New Library of Psychoanalysis, looks back on a lifetime of work with psychotic, borderline and neurotic patients and asks why some analyses succeed and others reach an impasse. Its four parts treat the analyst's own contribution to successful and unsuccessful treatment, the influence of narcissism on the analyst's task, the influence of projective identification on the analyst's task, and a conclusion. Rosenfeld argues that an impasse is not necessarily a sign of the patient's incurability: it can arise from the analyst's misunderstanding, and it can be worked through. He gives more weight than in his earlier work to the patient's real trauma, warns that rigid or misplaced interpretation can repeat that trauma in the analysis, and distinguishes thick-skinned from thin-skinned narcissistic patients. The book caused controversy among his colleagues; a reviewer in the British Journal of Medical Psychology judged it useful both to the author's critics and to those who followed his approach.
See also
People
References
- A Clinical Approach to the Psychoanalytic Theory of the Life and Death Instincts: An Investigation into the Aggressive Aspects of Narcissism1971Evidence for a relation
- Impasse and Interpretation: Therapeutic and Anti-Therapeutic Factors in the Psycho-Analytic Treatment of Psychotic, Borderline, and Neurotic Patients1987Evidence for a relation