PEP Web - Narcissistic Personality as a Symbiotic Character Disorder

The term 'narcissistic personality' is an unfortunate one, for it evokes the multiple and confusing usages and controversies involving the narcissism concept—as a particular type of libido with a special course, as the designation for the earliest (undifferentiated) development state, as a type of object choice, as an aspect of internalization, as a regressive configuration, and, of course, as a personality type. It is my hope that, if we begin this investigation not with an exegesis of the narcissism concept but instead with consideration of the personality type which is the focus of theoretical contention between Kernberg and Kohut, then we may be able to limit the controversy and confusion to more manageable proportions. I shall first look critically at some of the contributions of Kernberg and Kohut to our understanding of narcissistic personality (see also Robbins, 1980), and then propose that some instances of narcissistic personality, like borderline personality, may best be understood in terms of pathology of symbiotic bonding.