Concept
Narcissistic object relations
Herbert Rosenfeld's account, in his 1964 paper on the psychopathology of narcissism, of the way narcissistic patients relate to objects: not by withdrawing from them, as Freud's model suggested, but by taking them over omnipotently. Through omnipotent introjection the object's good qualities are claimed as the self's own, and through omnipotent projection unwanted parts of the self are lodged in the object, which is then kept devalued. Self and object are not told apart, so the separateness of the object, and with it dependence on it and envy of it, is never felt. The result is a grandiose self-idealization, later called libidinal narcissism, which in analysis appears as a transference that wipes out the value of the analyst's help.
Development
1964
introduced by Herbert Rosenfeld
Rosenfeld's 1964 paper described narcissism not as withdrawal from objects but as an omnipotent relation to them, in which the object's goodness is appropriated by introjection and the self's unwanted parts are projected into it, so that separateness, dependence and envy are denied.
In On the Psychopathology of Narcissism: A Clinical Approach (1964);Psychotic States: A Psycho-Analytical Approach (1965)
Relations
- 1964 introduced by Herbert Rosenfeld
Rosenfeld's 1964 paper described narcissism not as withdrawal from objects but as an omnipotent relation to them, in which the object's goodness is appropriated by introjection and the self's unwanted parts are projected into it, so that separateness, dependence and envy are denied.
- 1964 derives from Projective identification
The omnipotent narcissistic object relation rests on projective and introjective identification: parts of the self are put into the object, and the object is taken in as if it were the self, so that no separate object is acknowledged.
Works
- 1964
On the Psychopathology of Narcissism: A Clinical Approach
Rosenfeld's first paper on narcissism, in which he recasts it in Kleinian terms. Where Freud had described narcissism as libido withdrawn from objects onto the ego, Rosenfeld describes the omnipotent object relations of narcissistic patients. Through omnipotent introjection the self claims the good qualities of the object as its own; through omnipotent projection it lodges its unwanted parts in the object, which is then kept devalued. The result is a grandiose idealization of the self. This structure defends against recognizing the separateness of the good object, which would arouse dependence, envy and destructive impulses, and anxieties of confusion, fragmentation and disintegration. In analysis it appears as a transference that discounts the value of the analyst's help. The paper was reprinted in Psychotic States (1965) and Rosenfeld in Retrospect (2008), and Otto Kernberg later named Rosenfeld's approach among those he drew on.
- 1965
Psychotic States: A Psycho-Analytical Approach
Rosenfeld's first book collects the papers he wrote between 1946 and 1964, from his first case report of a schizophrenic patient with depersonalization (1947) to his clinical paper on the psychopathology of narcissism (1964). Together they apply Melanie Klein's account of early anxieties and defences, above all splitting and projective identification, to the analysis of schizophrenia and to hypochondriasis, drug addiction, depression and manic-depressive states. The book argues that psychotic patients can be treated by interpretation within the analytic setting, because they form a transference of their own, a transference psychosis marked by massive projection onto the analyst. It also contains his account of confusional states (1950) and his first statement on narcissistic object relations. It was published in London by the Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, and in New York by International Universities Press.
See also
Linked from
People
References
- On the Psychopathology of Narcissism: A Clinical Approach1964Evidence for a relation
- Psychotic States: A Psycho-Analytical Approach1965Evidence for a relation