Episode 27: The Tragedy of Narcissism
Lives of the Unconscious. A Podcast on Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy
The Armour of Narcissism, Devaluation and Compensation
Narcissistic defences or compensation strategies are like a protective shield over a wounded part of the f and not something pathological as long as they don't grow into character armor. But put on such armor because protection is not only needed under special and extraordinary circumstances, but permanently. Everything is an attack on self worth. Even the slightest stirrings, lacking praise or confirmation, every deficit in knowledge, all failures, strike an existential feeling of shame. Any one who has had any close contact with a narcisistic person will often discover behind the outwardly displayed facade of grandiosity, superiority and contempt, that the inside contains the very opposite feelings of insignificance, inadequacy, powerlessness.
