Narcissistic confirmation

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As narcissistic confirmation is interpersonal support referred to admiration , and encouragement, which requires an individual from his environment to his self-esteem to define. The concept was introduced into psychoanalytic theory in 1938 by the Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Fenichel .

The term is often used to describe a pathological or excessive urge in a person for attention and admiration from codependent caregivers, or a corresponding need that leaves no room for the feelings, opinions and preferences of other people.

history

Building on Freud's concept of narcissistic satisfaction and the work of the psychoanalyst Karl Abraham , Otto Fenichel identified the narcissistic desire for confirmation as a program of early childhood development aimed at maintaining mental balance. He identified two main strategies for achieving this affirmation: aggression and ingratiation .

A lack or loss of narcissistic confirmation in childhood leads, according to Fenichel, to a depressive tendency as well as a tendency to look for compensatory narcissistic confirmations in later life. Impulse control disorders and addictions (including love addiction and gambling addiction ) are therefore products of this search for narcissistic confirmation in adults. As early as 1920, the psychoanalyst Ernst Simmel described pathological gambling as a strategy to replace the lack of warmth and affection of the attachment figures in early childhood in the adult context.

Personality disorders

The psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg characterized narcissistic criminals by their cold disregard for other people, unless they could become sources of narcissistic confirmation through division (idealization and devaluation). The self-psychologist Heinz Kohut described the mental disintegration of people with narcissistic personality disorder when a source of narcissistic confirmation disappears. The caregivers who would provide this confirmation would be treated by them as part of the narcissistic personality, especially regarding personal boundaries.

Interpersonal relationships

The urge for narcissistic confirmation is described as the driving force behind pathological promiscuity as well as masochistic relationships and some forms of sadism .

In psychotherapy , the narcissistic client tends to sabotage therapeutic success because he perceives the therapist only as a source of narcissistic confirmation.

Personal limits

People who provide narcissistic confirmation to a narcissist are treated as part of themselves by the narcissist and are supposed to live up to their expectations. In the narcissist's perception, there are no boundaries between self and other.

Workplace

The narcissistic manager possesses two types of narcissistic affirmation: inanimate affirmation ( status symbols such as cars, gadgets, or office prospects) and animate affirmation (flattery and admiration from colleagues or subordinates). Colleagues can find themselves in a situation after a day-to-day courtesy that turns them into a permanent source of narcissistic reassurance if they do not deliberately maintain their personal boundaries. The narcissistic manager's urge to maintain such networks of narcissistic validation often hinders objective decision-making. Such a manager evaluates long-term goals according to whether they have a potential for him to gain personal attention.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Otto Fenichel : The Drive to Amass Wealth , in: Psychoanalytic Quarterly 7, pp. 69-95.
  2. ^ Sigmund Freud: Case Histories II (PFL 9) p. 380.
  3. ↑ Karl Abraham : A Short Study of the Development of the Libido, Viewed in the Light of Mental Disorders , in: Ernest Jones (Ed.): Selected Papers of Karl Abraham , 1927 [1924], pp. 418-501.
  4. ↑ Otto Fenichel : The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis , New York: WW Norton & Company, 1996 [1946], pp. 40, 105. ISBN 978-0-393-03890-3 .
  5. ↑ Otto Fenichel : The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis , New York: WW Norton & Company, 1996 [1946], pp. 41, 352-356. ISBN 978-0-393-03890-3 .
  6. ↑ Otto Fenichel : The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis , New York: WW Norton & Company, 1996 [1946], pp. 41, 404-405. ISBN 978-0-393-03890-3 .
  7. ^ Otto Fenichel : The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis , New York: WW Norton & Company, 1996 [1946], p. 372, 382, ​​510. ISBN 978-0-393-03890-3 .
  8. ^ J. Halliday and P. Fuller (Eds.): The Psychology of Gambling , London 1974, p. 218.
  9. ↑ Otto F. Kernberg: Contrasting Viewpoints Regarding the Nature and Psychoanalytic Treatment of Narcissistic Personalities: A Preliminary Communication , in: Journal of the American Psychoanalytical Association 22, 1974, pp. 255-67.
  10. ^ Heinz Kohut: The Chicago Institute Lectures , 1996, p. 37.
  11. ^ Sandy Hotchkiss, James F. Masterson: Why Is It Always About You? The Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism , 2003, p. 28.
  12. ^ Otto Fenichel : The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis , New York: WW Norton & Company, 1996 [1946], p. 243. ISBN 978-0-393-03890-3 .
  13. ↑ D. Hoffman, N. Kulik: The Clinical Problem of Masochism , 2012, p. 178.
  14. ^ Marie-France Hirigoyen: The masks of infamy
  15. ↑ D. Mann (Ed.): Erotic Transference and Countertransference , 2003, p. 52.
  16. ^ Sandy Hotchkiss, James F. Masterson: Why Is It Always About You? The Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism , 2003.
  17. ↑ AJ Dubrin: Narcissism in the Workplace , 2012 S. 143rd
  18. ↑ AJ Dubrin: Narcissism in the Workplace , 2012, p 143, 181st
  19. ↑ S. Allcorn: Organizational Dynamics and Intervention , 2005 S. 105th
  20. ↑ AJ Dubrin: Narcissism in the Workplace , 2012 S. 122nd