rt ytd 197) 86,179 {TOWARD A FUNCTIONAL DEFINITION OF NARCISSISM rajonl wag, wikin te conomi model vertgetbeny die ticry, doer a= a erat to teal exes of ea Reals iaberet a his econonic ee Tor nuciom lave. bern cogaly fevawed in assent pape by Pale (970). ere nie Aptis (09 a Hak (abbey Dati, 1960, Per note ha the (crea model ad die hoy i genca ae Seber to ssw eens He furor vse comfncngly that te nomapeie natre fetes ibid" ad i” as nodal food ei of coset! confon into out ‘Withing about marcia, soc otha the rip eowcpt of nari of eo fn tnt pretce.Tulvercoselodss that = Seejous veslt of ths vagueness hat he Streets at nor reed the slibraton a eras of eg aeholgy which. tere deserves The preset pape sin he ‘pit ctinsh an aperton ‘Sine the advent ofthe scl theory, @ tend in moan pyctoanlysepo pyeleey taser fo move sy foo presespaton wi purely coooniz plano sno move Tints econ epetons.”Armed th ‘oder egopeyehologal concepts we ae ‘Stier nr in expiiing mata sci pinay in tere of pot! flow tins ens eh abt eve of theding whi fa removed from expla ‘and! phenoimenological verification), and we are OME interested in andeaing ie mule Faneone yah pve etl ay sre ia th iyo Hy ad egy foe win the personality («lel of theorag ‘whith is much closer to actual clinical obser- vations) (Waelder, 1930; Arlow & Brenner, 1964). In keeping with this trend, I am offering ‘he, flowing Tenetont.dtalon of tar ‘sm, which evecare the tate of 0 Kechedge abou he wig funtion sere 8) ROBERT D, STOLOROW, New Bauwswick, NJ. those mental actives which clinicians have labelled as racist: Mental activity ie naresitc 10 the degree that iis fonction is 10. maintain the structural fahesinenets, temporal etablliy and. positive affective colering of the salfrepresentation. In the paragraphs which fljow, I shall fist review the work of come authors who have made Significant contributions to our understanding of parcisssm io functional terms. 1 shall then fattempt to demonstrate that a functional ‘conception of ails can be very helpful in Clearing up some of the ambigules and con- tradictions which have acsen asa result of the traditional dive concept of narcissism. CoxrmunuTions 70 A FUNCTIONAL, Numerous eatinors eg. Arlow & Bieane, 1964; Fiectnan, 196; Faull, 19) Save poled out that nazcsistic activity may function as Gefence, in order to ward off a multitude of fbjectrelated instinctual Gacedtuous, sado- frasochistig) conflicts, An excellent example of this orienttion is Kernber’s (1970) detailed intepretation of the "splendid isolation” apd cold, contemptuous altitudes of the narcissistic personaly a8 representing a defensive retreat from dreaded object relationships.characterined by intense dependency, oral envy and primitive oral sedis, and the resulting goilt and fears ‘Of retaliation, The corresinss of such inter~ Dretations cannot be doubted in many cast. However ace vitwally any mental activity can Serve to deend against instinctual conflicts and ‘Geeaded object relationships, such jnter- pretations do not appear to enhance our under andig ofthe unique function of activity which Clinicians bave labeled narcsistc. ~ Hence, T Shall restrict my brief review to explanations ‘hich T believe have contributed to our insight80 ROBERT P, STOLOROW cist posed in the Which I presented sbove ‘A crucial bit of groundwork for a funetional taniag, of nawcisisn vas Hartmann’s (1950) conceptual distinction between the ego (@ struetural antal syston), the self (he. whole petson ofan individu, including his body and body parts 25 well as his psychic organization and ifs parts), and the selfrepresenaton (the Tunconscious, preconscious and conscious endo- paychie representations ofthe Bodily and mental fell inthe system ego). Taking of from Har- Iann's distinction, Jacobson (1968) was abe 10 point cut that narcissism snot deatcal with the Ibidinal endowment of the system ego or of 20, functions as Freud (1914) had originally ‘postulated, Narcissism, according to Jacobson, Fefees to the libidinal cathexis of the self fepreseatation, which is constituted i the course fof ego development. While Jacobsoa’s form= bation remains rooted within the economic node, itis nevertheless very useful in delineating the arena in which naresitc activity exercises its faction; namely, the arena of the self representation "That Freud himself was hazily aware of the functional relationship. between narcissistic activity and the qiaintenance of the self ‘represcatation is suggested by his remark (1914) that «the eeltxegard has © very intimate con nection with the-nareisistic libido’. Freud foted that in narelsitie object choice the ain js to be loved and he stated further that 10 be loved raises the self-regard. The clear impli- cation is thatthe fonction of narcissistic object thoice i to regulate sellesteem (ie. to malatsin the positive affective colouring of the. sit represeatation). However, Freud was unable to carry this implication further, apparently be ‘use he didnot yet have clear concept ofthe telfrepresntation as distinct from the system ego. To my knowledge it was Reich who fist spelled outwith crystal clarity the way in which erain patterns, traditionally labelled narcis- sisi, fonction to maintain the slf-reprsen- tation, In the easier of two importat-papers (952), she demonstrated how 8 woman may form & narcissistic object te to an aggrandized phallic ideal in order to undo the trauma of er ‘an infecorty. Union wih aphalicideal ood as a magie method of eeputing, the daataged sell-representation and restoring injured self-esteem. in the ter paper (1960), Reich shoved hoor various olher narcissistic patterns (@. grandiose sefnflation, body arcsism, and ceaseless eavings for edmiting fttenton) may tepreseat compensatory attempts to repair damage done to the sel-epresetation by etsy traumatic experoness. Reich clearly interpreted clinically observed “narcsistc ds- turbances” as abortive atemps to restore and stabilize slF-esteem, ‘Numerous authors have butirsod and smapliied Reich's ground-breaking formulations Elkisch (1957) observed that certain of her patients would gaze at thei mages in the mieror in onder to restore 2 lost sense of seidentity. Referring o ute my uf NaneasusyLicewsicin {1964) formulated that narcsism refers not to the love of oneself but tothe love of one's misror image and argued that ‘the mitror and the act of mirroring introduce problems of the emer- tence ofa primary identity, of identity confusion, floss of identity, and of density maintenance as wells Narcisssto object relationships are to be nderstood a2. regresive efforts at identity ziaintenence theough mirroring.ia the objet. ita (1969) formated that narcissistic object. shoices serve to. stabilize and supplement weakened selfepresentation. Arfow & Brenner 196%, Murrey (1968), Xernberg. (1970, and Dremland & Winghols (1971) ait noted that tyandiose fantasies of magic omnipotence and tlimite entitlement may be etemps t repair farious injuries to and degradations of the SelF-representation and to ward off the threat of is dssotution. ‘Pethaps the most detailed account of how rarcssistie patterns function to maintain the self representation has been presented by Kobut (97D. The nuclear pathology in narcissistic Aisturbances, according to Kohut, san absence of or defect in internal structures that maintain selh-cohesiveness and self-esteem, In narcsistic bjest relationships, the object functions 38 a Substitute forthe missing or defective selfesteem regulating endopsychic structures. The object performs basic functions in the realm of self oem regulation that the individas!'s ownDEFINITION OF NARCISSISM psyche is unable to provide. Archsienarisistc, Ponfigurations are mobilized (eg. in which the fauividual requires coatiouous mirroring of his jose fantasies ot merger with an Ag+ Grandized omnipotent objec) in order to Ehaity a fragile and precarious sense of self ‘olesion and self-esteem, and to ward off the fiimate threat of fragmentation and structural Uisintegration of the self epresentaton, eis surprising that, despite the above clinical tlaions which strest the structuresmain- fairing. fonction of narcissistic activity, the Guhors Hsted seem unvilling 10 take the ‘timate metapsyehologcal sep of freeing the concept of narcisism from an economic ‘Sefnition which ft has outgrown, and redefining farssism in functional terms. -Kolnut, for instance, in stroggling to define a narisistc object relationship meapsychologically, sa, Narcissism defined not by the target of the fnainetea! investment Ge. whether it is the ubjethimselfor other people) but by the nature fF quality of the instinctual change. The small hid .. invests other people with narcsistc tathezes and thus experiences them narcissistic- filly... Ina narcsistic object relationship the fbject is invested with narcissist cathexes, But ‘what isa narcissistic cathers? In struggling t0 reconcile his excellent clic observations with fan outmoded economic concept of narcissism, ‘Kohut presents us wilh either a tautology oF 8 rotion that there is a qualitative difference Ivonen aaecssnic aneraies nd abinet-relaed nergice—a highly speculative proposition. A. ‘vay out ofthis conceptual mulberry bush, which ‘would be totally consistent with Kohut’ clinical formulations, would be to simply define a narcissistic. object relationship 5 one whose Junctions to maintain the cohesiveness, stability ‘and postive affective colouring of the self representation, In the following paragraphs, 1 shall try to show that other conceptual dif- ‘culties can be eleared up by eplacing the drive ‘concept ofnazessismwitha funetional definition. CCrantexmions AcstEvED WITHA FUNCTIONAL DERIMTION OF NARCISISS After a review of the literature, Polver (1970) ‘onclnds thet the term nacesism has been use clinically to refer to (1) a sexual perversion, (2) 4 mode of relating to objects, @) a develop 181 ental stage and (4) selfestem, I shall sow Attempt to demonstrate that 2 functional Gefntion Ids clarifcation to our under Standing. of narcissism in each of these four fiages, I stall also attempt to show that a | Fonctional definition clarifies te issu of healthy rersus wnbeathy narsssism and helps us to ‘void certain countertransference pitfalls rnarcsitic tients. 1. Narcissam as @ sexual perversion. Nais- sSamasa sexs perversion refers tothe taking of ‘one's own body, oF more specifically the mirror image of one's own body, a8 asexual objeet, In fmodera eliical thinking it is Insuficent 10 inerpret-a sexual perversion solely in. drive theory terms as ibidinal fixation inthis a5, Tidialfoation onthe self as sexual objet). Te is also necesary to understand the function feved by perverse activity Within the personality. With regard (othe, narcissistic perversion, ‘kisch (957) and Lichtenstein (1963) have noted that patents become preocoupied with theie misro? image in order to restore and flabilize a crumbling selPrepresentation. A arcsistcally disordered patient of my own, ‘would gnze lovingly at his miror image (wth oF ‘without masturbatory activiy) as a reparative | ‘device following injurious experiences which threatened ‘his slf-representation with frag~ ‘mentation, Reich (1960) and Kohut (1971) have ‘both abeerad that a wide varity of sexual Dervetsions may function as sexualized attempts | to wari of el-depletion and slfsragmentation, to revive th sense of having a cohesie sell, and torestore sel-eteem. Hence, it would seem that ‘2 funetiona conception of natcissism in terms of | the maintenance. of the. seltzepresentation | ‘contributes significantly to our understanding of the nares perversion and perverse activity | in general | 2 Narcisism as @ mode of relating 10 objects ‘Again folowing Pulver (1970), naresiom as a | smode of eiing to objects has been used torefer | to (@) a mode of relating to the envionment | characteiaed by @ relative lack of object | felationships—ie. withdrawal from overt ob- fervable rationships with objects ia the fnvironment, and (2) a typeof object choice in ‘hich the self plays a more important part than | the real aspects ofthe object, ‘with ropa to (a), Pulver points out shat the