IMPLEMENTATION AND THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION OF THE CONCEPT OF CONSTRUCTIVE NARCISSISTIC REGULATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/upj/2025-3-2-3Keywords:
Psychoanalytic theory of drives, narcissism, normal and pathological narcissism, epistemophilia, narcissistic drive, constructive narcissistic regulationAbstract
The article is devoted to the conceptualization of the concept of “constructive narcissistic regulation,” which has a strong theoretical foundation in the form of clinical descriptions of the phenomenon of narcissism and ideas about its psychodynamic etiology and pathogenesis. It reviews the concepts of narcissism by Sigmund Freud, Karl Abraham, object relations theorists, British “independent” analysts, ego psychology, and self psychology, and presents modern tools for diagnosing narcissistic phenomena, which also include a certain understanding of narcissism as an integral component of human personality functioning. This review is accompanied by theoretical reflections, generalizations, and new proposals by the authors of the article regarding the understanding of narcissistic phenomena. In particular, the concept of the “third tribe” is introduced – narcissistic drive as an innate human need to be qualitatively present in the reference culture, to be reflected and recognized as a significant agent of this culture, to leave a symbolic mark on it, which fundamentally distinguishes humans from animals, which also have aggressive and libidinal drives but do not have a narcissistic drive. A definition is proposed according to which constructive narcissistic regulation is a kind of attractor of libidinal and aggressive drives (tribes) in the service of cognition and relationship building, as well as the achievement of optimal narcissistic homeostasis, i.e., a sense of self-worth in a person’s need to adaptively realize themselves in a cultural environment. Constructive narcissistic regulation is defined as the process of a person’s presence of their talents and ambitions in their relationship with the world in accordance with their own meanings and values, accompanied by balancing object relations with the ability to remain in contact with oneself and the dimension of universal human culture. The authors describe three “agents” of constructive narcissistic regulation that allow narcissistic drive to be effectively realized: a stable, mature, developed Ego with a sufficient set of competencies and resources to support, develop, and repair (restore) the affected Self; a regulated and developed Self (Essence), which is the fundamental “source” from which the Ego draws the necessary resources for its development and the performance of the complex task of adapting to internal mental processes and external sociopsychological reality; a system of qualitative and constructive ways of self-realization in the external world of culture and inherent cultural traditions.
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