Narcissistic Equilibrium

When in psycho-analytic literature such varied phenomena, as a state of sleep, a baby sucking its thumb, a girl primping before a mirror, and a scientist exulting over the Nobel Prize are all referred to as 'narcissistic', a more precise definition of the term seems indicated. They may be traced to the same root but they are manifestly different things. Were our vocabulary richer we could have a separate term for each shade of meaning, as did the Greeks with eight or nine different words for love. Narcissism is reported as inherent in the most sublime of sublimations and in the most psychotic of regressions. In some instances it is held responsible for the heightening of male potency, but in other cases blamed for its diminution. It can be found at work both in feminine frigidity and feminine attractiveness. It is supposed to neutralize any destructive tendencies, yet becomes a source of anxiety to the ego. It is a defence against homosexuality, yet homosexuals are particularly 'narcissistic'. Sleep is a narcissistic withdrawal of libido (28), yet sleeplessness is the flight of enhanced narcissism from further augmentation (55). It is used to explain the drag of inertia and the drive of ambition (41). Such ambiguity indicates sufficiently a need for exploration and clearer definition of a term used so much in psycho-analysis yet with such diverse meanings.

The term 'narcissism' was originally coined by Havelock Ellis (9) and used by Näcke before Freud employed it in his libido theory. Freud wrote of only two forms—the primary and secondary forms. The earliest nucleus of the ego was to him the primary narcissism derived from the pleasures the child gets from its own body, and as a synthesis of isolated auto-erotisms. This primary narcissism develops as the child's ego develops. He declared (27) that there is no ego libido at the very start, but only auto-erotic impulses from which narcissism can develop. Its pronounced development in man he traces to th