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In an earlier paper (Margolis, 1979), the writer offered some preliminary observations on the origins, development and implications for therapy of the narcissistic transference. The present article explores additional aspects of the concept, with the aim of establishing more fully its theoretical and clinical scope.
Briefly, narcissistic transference is a special form of transference established by the narcissistic patient in the course of analytic therapy. Its characteristics are determined by such factors as the stage of early development at which the patient is fixated, the level of ego formation associated with that stage, and the nature of the experiences that the patient underwent at the time. The narcissistic patient is fixated at some point or points in approximately the first two years of life. In Mahler's (1968, 1975) widely accepted schema of psychological growth, this crucial period covers the first thirty months of life and embraces the developmental stages of normal autism, symbiosis and separation-individuation. Ego formation is conceived as proceeding from one stage to the next. Normal autism is an undifferentiated, objectless state. In the symbiotic period, self and object begin to appear, investing an emergent ego with their