The author maintains that successful treatment requires a sufficient analysis of delusions of grandeur. This narcissistic phenomenon intertwines with all symptoms, defenses, and mental structures. In health, delusions of grandeur help us cope with our vulnerability to frightening realities, such as death or other malevolent external

forces that we cannot control. Moreover, idealizing our productions is necessary to succeed in our creative pursuits. Grandiosity lurks behind consciously and rationally stated ideals, for in the unconscious such ideals are considered fully realized. Spanjaard notes typical countertransference-based reluctances to address the patient's delusions of grandeur. He argues that delusions of grandeur are best analyzed when they appear in the transference, and that the analyst's suggestive influence may also play a vital role in helping the patient resolve the self-defeating effects of these delusions.