Narcissistic supply

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In psychoanalytic theory, narcissistic supply is attention or admiration that is pathologically or excessively needed from codependents, or such a need in the orally fixated, that does not take into account the feelings, opinions or preferences of other people. [1]

Contents

The concept was introduced by Otto Fenichel in 1938, to describe a type of admiration, interpersonal support or sustenance drawn by an individual from his or her environment and essential to their self-esteem. [2]

History

Building on Freud's concept of narcissistic satisfaction [3] and on the work of his colleague the psychoanalyst Karl Abraham, [4] Fenichel highlighted the narcissistic need in early development for supplies to enable young children to maintain a sense of mental equilibrium. [5] He identified two main strategies for obtaining such narcissistic supplies—aggression and ingratiation—contrasting styles of approach which could later develop into the sadistic and the submissive respectively. [6]

A childhood loss of essential supplies was for Fenichel key to a depressive disposition, as well as to a tendency to seek compensatory narcissistic supplies thereafter. [7] Impulse neuroses, addictions including love addiction and gambling, were all seen by him as products of the struggle for supplies in later life. [8] Psychoanalyst Ernst Simmel (1920) had earlier considered neurotic gambling as an attempt to regain primitive love and attention in an adult context. [9]

Personality disorders

Psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg considered the malignant narcissistic criminal to be coldly characterised by a disregard of others unless they could be idealised as sources of narcissistic supply. [10] Self psychologist Heinz Kohut saw those with narcissistic personality disorder as disintegrating mentally when cut off from a regular source of narcissistic supply. [11] Those providing supply to such figures may be treated as if they are a part of the narcissist, in an eclipse of all personal boundaries. [12]

Israeli author Sam Vaknin, who has written works related to or about narcissism and personality disorders, has in his work expanded the scope of several psychological concepts, [13] including narcissistic supply. In his work on the topic, narcissistic supply is conceptualized as external recognition and validation of the false self of a "narcissist", such as admiration for the individual or their traits and accomplishments. [14]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Lancer, Darlene (August 7, 2021). "The Concept of Narcissistic Supply". Psychology Today . Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  2. ↑ Fenichel 1938.
  3. ↑ Sigmund Freud, Case Histories II (PFL 9) p. 380.
  4. ↑ Abraham 1927.
  5. ↑ Fenichel 1996, pp. 40, 105.
  6. ↑ Fenichel 1996, pp. 41, 352–356.
  7. ↑ Fenichel 1996, pp. 404–405.
  8. ↑ Fenichel 1996, pp. 372, 382 and 510.
  9. ↑ Halliday, J.; Fuller, P., eds. (1974). The Psychology of Gambling. p. 218.
  10. ↑ Kernberg, Otto F. (1974). "Contrasting Viewpoints Regarding the Nature and Psychoanalytic Treatment of Narcissistic Personalities: A Preliminary Communication". Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 22 (2): 255–67. doi:10.1177/000306517402200202. PMID   4412618. S2CID   16599586.
  11. ↑ Heinz Kohut, The Chicago Institute Lectures (1996) p. 37
  12. ↑ Hotchkiss, Sandy & Masterson, James F. Why Is It Always About You? : The Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism (2003) p. 28
  13. ↑ Sam, Vaknin. "Sam Vaknin: Setting the Record Straight" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 December 2024.
  14. ↑ "Narcissists, Narcissistic Supply and Sources of Supply". samvak.tripod.com. Retrieved 2025-03-30.

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