Comparing a narcissistic and an autistic retreat

‘Looking through or at the window’

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8972441
AutoresLaura Viviana Strauss (autor correspondente)
Ano2011
Volume93
Fascículo1
Páginas97-116
Data de publicação2011-10-28
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe International Journal of Psychoanalysis (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0020-7578 • E-ISSN: 1745-8315
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1745-8315.2011.00488.x
PMID22320137
OpenAlexW1933112789
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas8

In this paper I discuss two different forms of psychic retreats that I encountered in the treatment of a patient who suffered from two traumatic experiences: the loss of his mother when he was 2 years old and his 'near-death' experience when he was five. In the parasitic narcissistic retreat, using intensive projective identification enabled him to create an impasse in the form of a 'high tide - low tide' scenario in which alternating hope and disappointment kept the process going, yet paralyzed development. The autistic retreat, for its part, led to the collapse of projective identification mechanisms, dismantling and disrupting the transference/countertransference negotiations. The emerging state of non-communication and 'near death' seemed to act as a protection against the unbearable pain of abandonment and desolation

Abandonment (legal · Countertransference · Disappointment · Negotiation · Political science · Projective identification · Psychic · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Law · Medicine · Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research · Psychology · Psychology and Mental Health · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology