The origins of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder a
The origins of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder a
The origins of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder a
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50 JOHN S. AUERBACH<br />
<strong>and</strong> only gradually emerge from a state <strong>of</strong> undifferentiation from, or<br />
in some accounts (symbiotic) fusion with, objects. Stern’s (1985) work<br />
has been central to a refutation <strong>of</strong> this notion. <strong>The</strong> greater surprise in<br />
the history <strong>of</strong> psychoanalytic developmental thinking, however, is not<br />
the unity <strong>of</strong> opinion regarding primary undifferentiation but the number<br />
<strong>of</strong> reservations Freud had about regarding newborns as objectless.<br />
In fact, Freud was <strong>of</strong> several minds regarding the earliest stages <strong>of</strong><br />
development (see Balint, 1968/1979; Baranger, 1991; Henseler, 1991;<br />
Kanzer, 1964; Laplanche, 1970/1976; Laplanche & Pontalis, 1967/<br />
1973; Smith, 1985), although, for simplicity <strong>of</strong> exposition, one can say<br />
that he had two divergent theories <strong>of</strong> <strong>narcissism</strong>. That Freud’s writings<br />
contain more than one account <strong>of</strong> primary <strong>narcissism</strong> should be unsurprising,<br />
given the complexity <strong>of</strong> psychoanalytic theory, <strong>and</strong> yet it<br />
is likely that most readers will know only Freud’s (1923/1961; 1940/<br />
1964) later formulation <strong>of</strong> the concept-that primary <strong>narcissism</strong> is a<br />
state, occurring at the beginning <strong>of</strong> life, in which infants cannot differentiate<br />
themselves from objects.<br />
Freud’s First <strong>The</strong>ory <strong>of</strong> Narcissism<br />
According to Freud’s (191 1/1958b, 1913/1955; 1914/1957) first theory,<br />
<strong>narcissism</strong> is a normal developmental stage midway between<br />
autoerotism-a concept in turn defined as a developmental period in<br />
which the libido is organized at the level <strong>of</strong> component drives <strong>and</strong> in<br />
which one seeks gratification not from objects but from one’s own body<br />
(Freud, 1905/1953, 1911/1958b)-<strong>and</strong> object love; it is constituted by<br />
the development <strong>of</strong> the ego (Freud, 1914/1957). Specifically, Freud<br />
(1914/1957, p. 77) wrote:<br />
A unity comparable to the ego cannot exist in the individual from<br />
the start; the ego has to be developed. <strong>The</strong> auto-erotic instincts,<br />
however, are there from the very first; so there must be something<br />
added to auto-erotism-a new psychical action-in order to bring<br />
about <strong>narcissism</strong>.<br />
In accordance with Hartmann’s (1950, pp. 54-55) clarification <strong>of</strong> the<br />
differences among ego (”a psychic system”), self (”one’s own person”),