The Analyst's Narcissistic Vulnerability

To be an effective analyst or therapist requires one to be vulnerable.?Being hurt, disappointed, discouraged, and even humiliated are just as inevitable as our shared joy and pathos (Chused, 2012).?There has been much discussion regarding whether or not analysts are more narcissistically vulnerable than other professionals. For many years, I agreed with Luchner et al. (2008), Wilson (2003), Seligson (1992), Sussman (1992), Finell (1985), and others who suggested that we might be. However, after 35 years of treating people from every walk of life, I have concluded that therapists do not seem to be more narcissistically organized than others. ?

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Nevertheless, our narcissistic needs can present a significant obstacle to effective treatment.?Our disavowal of narcissistic needs, in particular, creates an obvious barrier to identifying when and how they are obstructing the treatment process.?Fnnell (1985) wrote persuasively about the analyst’s narcissistic needs more than three decades ago, emphasizing personal analysis as the only antidote to pervasive, and largely unconscious processes present in the narcissistic defenses of “splitting, denial, and projection” (p. 433).?

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If Finell is correct in assuming that the most narcissistic gratifications on the analyst’s part will necessarily be out of awareness, is there any hope for an optimal degree of self-awareness??What should analysts look for as signs of healthy gratification versus the analyst gratifying himself at his patient’s expense??What attitudes on the analyst’s part suggest a healthy perspective on himself and his work, and what attitudes represent a denial of needs and feelings that may be ego-dystonic??And how do these attitudes spill over into the analytic community as a whole??In line with the theme of this book, what are the origins of the analyst’s vulnerability and narcissistic needs??And to what extents do analysts display healthy versus unhealthy narcissism??

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This chapter is devoted to examining our inevitable narcissistic vulnerabilities as human beings. ?The objective here is to remove the stigma of vulnerability and open up discussion and greater self-reflection on the analyst’s part.?Discarding the accusation of pathological narcissism as rampant in the analytic community, and replacing it with ideas about how our early experiences might contribute to certain types of vulnerability, will hopefully open new areas for self-examination.

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