Introduction to Narcissism Part 1
The term narcissism was first used by Näcke (Paul Näcke) to denote the attitude of people who treat their own body as if it were a sexual object, that is, the attitude of people who gaze at, stroke, and caress their own body until they feel sexual satisfaction. In fact, narcissism developed to this degree is no different from a perversion that lays waste to the individual's entire sexual life. In this sense, we can surmise that narcissism too will exhibit characteristics similar to the many symptomatic features one may encounter in the course of studying all forms of perversion (Perversion).
----------
→ The Encyclopaedia Britannica regards narcissism as one of the perversions. I don't know how old Britannica is, but Freud too seems to have a very high level of understanding of narcissism. Above all, what he tries to explain through narcissism is the whereabouts of the libido, and the dictionary explains that in narcissism the libido is directed toward oneself.
----------
The urgent motive that led psychoanalysts to study primordial yet normal narcissism arose as efforts were made to understand, within the framework of libido theory, the symptoms known as dementia praecox (Dementia praecox) or schizophrenia (Schizophrenie). Patients of that kind exhibit two fundamental characteristics: megalomania and a turning away from the external world. In particular, because of the latter of these two characteristics, the turning away from the external world, they are not influenced by psychoanalysis, so no matter how much effort we psychoanalysts make, treatment becomes impossible. Now, the characteristic of these abnormal psychiatric patients turning their eyes away from the external world needs to be explained in more detail. Hysteria (Hysterie) patients and obsessional neurosis (Zwangsneurose) patients also abandon their relationship with reality once the illness has progressed to a certain degree. But according to what psychoanalysis has revealed, such patients never abandon their erotic relationships with people or things, but maintain them within their fantasies. That is to say, such patients replace the real object with an imaginary object drawn out from their memory, or mix the real object together with the imaginary object. On the other hand, they simply abandon some purpose they had originally held with regard to those real objects. It is only to this state of the libido that we can apply the expression of libido's <introversion> that Jung used indiscriminately. But the case of abnormal psychiatric patients is different. He has not only withdrawn his libido from the people and things of the external world, but also does not replace those external objects with other objects in fantasy.......The libido that has turned its back on the external world turns its direction toward the ego, giving rise to an attitude that may be called narcissism. But megalomania itself is not something newly created; it is the result of a state that already existed beforehand being expanded and appearing more clearly. Therefore, we come to grasp the narcissism that arose from the withdrawal of object-cathexis (Objektbesetzung) as a secondary narcissism added on top of a primordial narcissism that has been rendered latent by various influences.
Let me reiterate once more: I am not here explaining or delving more deeply into the problem of schizophrenia. I only wish to bring together in one place the things I mentioned in various other places in order to justify the introduction of the concept of narcissism into psychoanalysis.
......Finally, with regard to the differentiation of psychic energy, we have reached this conclusion: that while the state of narcissism persists, psychic energy is gathered together, and with coarse, undelicate analysis the distinction of psychic energies is impossible. In the end, it is our thought that only when object-cathexis occurs does the distinction between sexual energy—libido—and ego-instinct energy become possible.
----------
→ I didn't know 'libido' was this important. Well, since narcissism itself is a sexual impulse arising toward oneself, it may be only natural that libido, which refers to sexual impulse, comes up so often.
----------
Before continuing the discussion further, we need to first resolve two of the most important questions that have been the cause of the difficulty of the subject we wish to address. First, what relationship is there between the narcissism we are now discussing and autoerotism (Autoerotismus), the early state of the libido? Second, if we acknowledge that the primordial manifestation of libido is directed toward the ego, is it necessary to distinguish between sexual libido and the energy of the ego-instincts, which is non-sexual energy?
With regard to the first question, I would like to point out the fact that, from the very beginning, no unity comparable to the ego could have existed in the individual, and we therefore had no choice but to assume that the ego must continue to develop.
The demand to answer the second question clearly is surely a demand that gives all psychoanalysts a sense of unease. A psychoanalyst would hate even the thought of getting caught up in a fruitless theoretical dispute and neglecting observation. In fact, concepts such as ego-libido and ego-instinct energy are neither easily understood nor rich in content. Therefore, speculative theory that discusses the relationships between such concepts must begin with first defining the foundational concepts more clearly.
----------
→ The subject of narcissism does seem difficult. The two questions that are the 'cause of the difficulty' are also extremely hard......I can't quite understand them. (T_T)
----------
......Therefore, we can refute Jung's claim that libido theory is of no use in explaining dementia praecox, and that this is likewise the case for other neurotic disorders.
----------
→ In any case, Freud is refuting Jung's claim. He is saying that explaining neurotic disorders using libido theory is difficult.
----------
Comments 0
No comments yet. Be the first.