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Here the polysemiotic nature of the term object is addressed. The emphasis given by some analysts to difficult patients' denial of otherness or denial of the object connotes the persistence of a pejorative view of narcissism, in spite of the rehabilitation attempted by such writers as André Green, Béla Grunberger, and Heinz Kohut, betraying a normative or ideological
view of development. Moreover, the expression denial of the object describes a narcissistic countertransference on the part of an analyst who may not like not being considered as a separate object, and whose own narcissism is threatened by the regressions and narcissistic defenses of the patient.
Oppenheimer proposes an integration of the clinical aspects of narcissism as discussed by Kohut with Freud's theories of narcissism. Rather than regarding narcissism as an enemy to be fought, Kohut demonstrated the importance of the selfobject, enabling us to avoid stigmatizing narcissism as a denial of otherness, and to understand its positive dimension from the point of view of the needs of the ego or the self. Freud had difficulty in conceptualizing this aspect of narcissism, and his comments reveal several confusions and paradoxes. His discussion of narcissism and the related negative therapeutic reaction shows that he was aware of the narcissistic transference, but he drew back from this recognition because of the countertransferential threat to his own narcissism; thus, he did not go on to theorize about it. Now, however, we can make explicit the idea that if the analyst accepts being a function of the narcissistic system of the patient, the patient's narcissism may evolve and become analyzable. This represents an alternative pathway between a narcissistic withdrawal and object love.
The author illustrates some clinical aspects of narcissistic transference in her work with a patient. Her conclusion is that the narcissistic other is a functional object with an essential clinical perspective, difficult as i