The etiology of narcissistic personality disorder.
- 1 January 1998
- journal article
- case report
- Published by Informa UK Limited in The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child
- Vol. 53 (1), 141-158
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00797308.1998.11822480
Abstract
This paper presents a view of the etiology of narcissistic personality disorder which, while not new, is at variance with the commonly held position that this disorder is the outcome of the insufficient gratification of the normal narcissistic needs of infancy and childhood. The contrary thesis is presented: that narcissistic personality disorder is the outcome of narcissistic overgratification during childhood. A fixation to this overgratification interferes with the normal maturation and integration of the superego, leading to difficulties in self-esteem regulation and to a tendency to massive externalization. Clinical material is presented to support this view.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- The ExceptionsThe Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1997
- The Role of Mother-Son Incest in The Pathogenesis of Narcissistic Personality DisorderJournal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 1994
- Helping Patients by Analyzing Self-CriticismJournal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 1990
- Pathological Narcissism In ChildhoodJournal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 1984
- Persistence of Denial in FantasyThe Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1979
- Self-Pity, Self-Comforting, and the SuperegoThe Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1972
- Projection and ExternalizationThe Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1970
- The “Exceptions”The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1959
- The Recovery of Childhood Memories in PsychoanalysisThe Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1956
- The Self and the Object WorldThe Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1954