Antinarcissism

Antinarcissism is a specific form of narcissistic character that, rather than aggrandising the ego, restricts its scope without diminishing the amount of self-investment involved.

Self-limitation

Christopher Bollas introduced the concept of antinarcissism to describe a self-limiting kind of narcissist who refuse to develop themselves or use their talents, so as to maintain their exaggerated sense of self-importance in defeat. "This anti-elaborative person 'stews in his own juice' and adamantly refuses to nurture himself". The antinarcissist may preserve a hostile, even sadistic, core behind a self-effacing facade of care and consideration for others.

André Green similarly wrote of antinarcissism as a negative narcissism that seeks self-destructively to abolish the ego.

Other Formulations

• Hélène Cixous saw as anti-narcissistic the female internalisation of the male gaze as an alien standard to live up to, as opposed to developing their own selves.
• Fritz Wittels earlier described as antinarcissistic the tendency of two lovers to lose themselves each in the other.

See also

3

External links

• Antinarcissism

• Tod Sloan, Damaged Life (2002) p. 116
• Bollas, quoted in N. Symington, Narcissism (2003) p. 113
• A. Gratch, If Men could Talk (2009)
• A. M. Cooper et al ed., Psychoanalysis on the Move () p. 79
• L. Hart, Fatal Women (2005) p. 65
• F. WIttels, Sigmund Freud (2013[1923]) p. 207