Related Experiment Videos
Narcissistic resistances in the analytic experience
The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis
|February 12, 2000
Summary
This study explores narcissistic resistances in clinical settings, revealing that narcissistic self-sufficiency paradoxically requires an object for its defense. The analyst
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychoanalysis
Background:
- Examines narcissistic resistances within clinical psychoanalytic practice.
- Focuses on the concept of patient autonomy in reproducing narcissistic stages.
Observation:
- Analyzes a case study of a patient with compulsive masturbation.
- Investigates the link between the symptom, transference, and underlying fantasies of auto-erotic activity.
Findings:
- Narcissistic defenses require an external object for support, despite aiming for self-sufficiency.
- Highlights a paradox where narcissistic subjects need an object's acknowledgment of their 'doing without' to achieve independence.
- Identifies narcissistic resistance as a manifestation of dependency on the analyst within the therapeutic relationship.
Implications:
- Suggests the analyst's role in maintaining narcissistic resistance by obscuring dependency.
- Underscores the complex interplay between internal defenses and external object relations in narcissism.
- Offers insights into therapeutic strategies for addressing narcissistic defenses in psychoanalysis.