A Psychoanalytic Reflection on Narcissistic Parenthood and its Ramifications

A Psychoanalytic Reflection on Narcissistic Parenthood and its Ramifications: The Forgotten Echo proposes a new perspective on narcissism, focusing on its destructive impact within relationships.

Hila Yahalom discusses the patterns and ramifications of traumatizing upbringing by narcissistic parents, exploring the resulting development of a defensive-behavioural pattern and personality structures in the child which constitutes a mirror image of narcissism. Yahalom assesses a wide range of psychoanalytic theories in presenting a broad outlook on narcissism, its roots, and the manner by which pathological narcissism may manifest in interpersonal relationships as ‘narcissistic abuse-. This book considers the narcissist-s perverted occupation of the psychic space of others, with both participants usually blind to the phenomenon – a blindness that is reenacted in therapy, affecting its course. This book contains clinical vignettes from the author-s work as well as examples from the life stories of Heinz Kohut (Mr. Z), Franz Kafka, and Maria Callas.