Article
A Clinical Approach to the Psychoanalytic Theory of the Life and Death Instincts: An Investigation into the Aggressive Aspects of Narcissism
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.
Main ideas
- Narcissism has libidinal aspects, in which good objects are omnipotently possessed, and destructive aspects, in which the destructive parts of the self are idealized.
- In destructive narcissism the idealized destructive self attacks any loving dependence on an object, including the analyst.
- The narcissistic organization works like a mafia gang that holds the dependent parts of the self captive.
- The clinical study of narcissism gives the theory of the life and death instincts a clinical footing.
What it shows
- 1971
Herbert Rosenfeld introduced Destructive narcissism
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).
- 1964
Herbert Rosenfeld reworked Narcissism
Where Freud saw narcissism as libido withdrawn from objects onto the ego, Rosenfeld recast it in Kleinian terms as an omnipotent object relation that defends against dependence and envy, with a libidinal and a destructive aspect.
- 1971
Destructive narcissism 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.