Narcissistic transformations in adolescence

This paper traces the transformation of narcissism, paralleling the transformations of object love, occurring between early and late adolescence. Narcissism is examined in terms of three lines of development: erotic self-love, omnipotence, and the regulations of self-esteem. The transition occurs relatively rapidly in most normal and psychoneurotic individuals and involves a massive reorganization of the psyche. The acquisition of a body image of an adult sort probably acts an organizer. A normal consequence is the first romantic love relationship. An understanding of these issues is of importance in psychoanalytic psychotherapy of both adolescents and adults.