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This article examines the phenomenon of sadism separated from its association with masochism. Even if there is a tendency in psychoanalytic theory to retain the intrapsychic complementarity of sadism and masochism as active and passive expression of the same psychodynamic, this article stresses the need to differentiate the two phenomena. Following a brief review of Krafft-Ebings's, Freud's, and Klein's notions on sadism, the author suggests that sadism has tended to be obscured by the general problem of aggression, and, more often than not, closely allied with its severe forms. He further suggests that hatred and sadism should be seen as distinct phenomena; hatred is not the defining or essential characteristic of sadism.
In his attempt to explain sadism as a distinct entity, the author focuses on the sadist's primal anxieties, which he believes are linked to basic agonies surrounding annihilation. The sadist, faced with unarticulated primitive dread, triumphs over death by becoming its agent. Clinically, this dread can be expressed through a malignant fear of passivity, helplessness, or ego collapse. The sadist defends himself against this dread by achieving moments of sadistic triumph, which, through omnipotent control of the object, symbolically guarantees his survival. Leonoff therefore suggests that destructive narcissism and sadism describe overlapping phenomena from different points of view. Sadism is both a demonstration and affirmation of omnipotent triumph, not simply