VARIETY
Roberta Satow
NARCISSISM OR INDIVIDUALISM?
The current popularity of the concept of narcissism in both
psychoanalytic and lay circles has resulted in some confusion. The
term itself has been defined and interpreted so broadly in its popular
use that it is difficult to find a cultural or psychological phenomenon
that cannot be described by some version of it. While psychoanalysts
use several different clinical definitions of narcissism, more generalis tic
social commentaries blur its meaning by using the term in a generic
way as a synonym for self-absorption or preoccupation with the self.
Freud used the concept of narcissism in at least four different ways.
Initially, he discussed narcissism within the context of libido theory, as
energy directed toward one's own ego, as opposed to objects. From a
developmental point of view, Freud viewed primary narcissism as the
original state of libidinal cathexis of the ego, while secondary narcis–
sism referred to a state in which the libido which had once cathected
objects is withdrawn into the ego. Freud also used narcissism to refer to
a type of object choice in which the basis for the choice is identification
with some aspect of the self-either real or imagined. Finally, Freud
related narcissism and self-esteem, proposing that self-esteem is rooted
in the relationship between the ego ideal and the ego: if the individual
is not able to transcend the narcissistic perfection of his early
childhood, he displaces this early narcissism onto an ego ideal.
It
was
this brief discussion that led later theorists to develop the concept of
narcissism as a problem in establishing and maintaining self-esteem.
Between 1914 and 1950 there were no major additions to Freud's
theories on narcissism. Since
1950,
however, there has been a change in
the emphasis in discussions of narcissism on two levels. First, current
psychoanalytic thought tends
to
emphasize narcissism as a way of
