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Richard Wood offers a critical overview of the theoretical landscape that characterizes the understanding of narcissism, referring to the work of Fromm, Rosenfeld, Kernberg, and Kohut, among others. He delineates and investigates three key forms of narcissism: severe, pathological narcissism that can result in extreme human suffering.
If you’re checking out this book, there is a good chance you - or someone you care about - have experienced damaging consequences at the hands of a genuine narcissist. Maybe you didn’t realize you were dealing with a narcissist at first, but the pain and damage caused by this selfish, arrogant, condescending, and domineering person might have driven you to search for answers about what was going on, and how to deal with them.
Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents’ large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, New York, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse. She explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who occupied the Oval Office.
Wood, Richard (2024-09-29T23:58:59.000). Narcissism: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Introductions to Contemporary Psychoanalysis) . Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.
Introduction
When I faced the task of capturing essential psychoanalytic conceptions of narcissism, I admit that I felt intimidated, particularly because I would be trying to do so within a 40,000 word limit – a constraint that I knew would be daunting to work within the face of so many rich and variegated ideas. Rendering this challenge even more imposing was the enduring confusion within the psychoanalytic world about what we mean by the term narcissism. Consider, for example, Freud’s retrospective appraisal of his early construction of narcissism: “The narcissism” had a difficult labour and bears all the marks of a corresponding deformation. Over half a century later Judith Teicholz provided a similar assessment: Freud’s ideas on narcissism contain contradictions, inconsistencies, and gaps, which are still being struggled with in the current decade. Did greater clarity emerge with the passage of years as other theorists contributed their ideas or expanded upon some of Freud’s and each other’s musings about narcissism? …by all accounts narcissism is a pivotal psychoanalytic concept and yet it is by no means clear how the concept can be unproblematically integrated with other significant branches of psychoanalytic metatheory.… The place of narcissism has become even more unsettled in the wake of theoretical and technical innovations since Freud’s death while its importance has, paradoxically, grown… The theory of narcissism is a vast and convoluted topic. Of the many concepts that Freud bequeathed us, few have proved as elusive as narcissism
Robertsson, DC. The First Will Be Last: A Biblical Perspective On Narcissism (Counseling Series) (p. 14). Davidson Trust Publishing. Kindle Edition.
The Range of Perspectives
If you’ve picked up this book, there is a good chance you - or someone you care about - has experienced some of the more damaging consequences of genuine narcissism. Maybe you didn’t realize you were dealing with a narcissist at first, but the pain and damage this selfish, arrogant, condescending, and domineering person caused might have driven you to search for answers about what was going on, and how to deal with them. As you searched online or in books, perhaps you read more about who this type of person is, and how he or she operates. You likely have read explanations on causes, and advice on how to deal with this "narcissist." Those looking for help with understanding and dealing with a narcissist have typically turned to the following five sources: 1) Professional psychologists or psychiatrists 2) The pop-psychology world of books, blogs, self-help forums, etc. 3) Christian psychologists 4) Biblical counselors 5) A shoulder to cry on (i.e. – a caring friend) Of these, by far the most commonly sought sources have been the world of pop-psychology and caring friends. My own journey of discovery started with asking God for “help!”, but my first stop on the road was the world of pop-psychology. However, God soon showed me that He has something to say on the subject.
Trump, Mary L.. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man (p. 1). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
Introduction
I’d always liked my name. As a kid at sailing camp in the 1970s, everybody called me Trump. It was a source of pride, not because the name was associated with power and real estate (back then my family was unknown outside of Brooklyn and Queens) but because something about the sound of it suited me, a tough six-year-old, afraid of nothing. In the 1980s, when I was in college and my uncle Donald had started branding all of his buildings in Manhattan, my feelings about my name became more complicated. Thirty years later, on April 4, 2017, I was in the quiet car of an Amtrak train headed to Washington, DC, for a family dinner at the White House. Ten days earlier I had received an email inviting me to a birthday celebration for my aunts Maryanne, turning eighty, and Elizabeth, turning seventy-five. Their younger brother Donald had occupied the Oval Office since January. After I emerged into Union Station, with its vaulted ceilings and black-and-white black-and-white marble floors, I passed a vendor who had set up an easel with buttons for sale: my name in a red circle with a red slash through it, “DEPORT TRUMP,” “DUMP TRUMP,” and “TRUMP IS A WITCH.” I put on my sunglasses and picked up my pace. I took a cab to the Trump International Hotel, which was comping my family for one night.