[Narcissism and religiosity]

The author attempts a selective review of the concept of narcissism from Freud and its development from the theorists of objects relationships. He also describes the religiosity in the psychopathology and in every day life and at last he discusses how the defense structure of narcissism and religiosity interweaved and restrained the capability of the subject to love and create. There are used vignettes from the psychoanalysis of three patients and an allegory from the New Testament. The author suggests that the passing through the paranoid-schizoid to the depressive position helps the narcissistic personality to free itself not only of persecutory anxieties but also of depressive anxieties and to complete mourning. In this position he no needs any more to use the religion to protect himself from his pain but he can use it to "know" the other.