Slings and Arrows: Narcissistic Injury and Its Treatment

330 Pages·1995·14.94 MB·English

by  Jerome David Levin

Slings and
Arrows

Slings and
Arrows
Narcissistic Inj ury and
Its Treatment
Jerome David Levin, Ph.D.
JASON ARONSON INC.
Northvale, New Jersey
London
Production Editor: Judith D. Cohen
This book was set in 11 pt. Baskerville by Lind Graphics of Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey, and printed and bound by Haddon Craftsmen of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Copyright C 1993 by Jerome David Levin
10 9 8 7 6 5 ~ 3 2
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be
used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from Jason
Aronson Inc. except in the case of brief quotations in reviews for inclusion in a magazine,
newspaper, or broadcast.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Levin, Jerome D. (Jerome David)
Slings and arrows : narcissistic injury and its treatment I by
Jerome D. Levin.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87668-550-1
1. Narcissistic injuries. 2. Psychotherapy. I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Narcissism. 2. Self Concept. 3. Mental Disorders-
therapy. WM ~0.5.E3 L665s 1993]
RC~55.~.N3U8 1993
616.85'85 -dc20
DNLM/DLC
for Library of Congress 93-13285
Manufactured in the United States of America. Jason Aronson Inc. offers books and
cassettes. For information and catalog write to Jason Aronson Inc., 230 Livingston Street,
Northvale, New Jersey 07M7.
In Memory of My Mother
Edith Levin

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of
troubles,
And by opposing end them? ...
For who would bear the whips and
scorns of time,
The oppressors's wrong, the proud man's
contumely,
The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's
delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy
takes,
When he himself might his quietus
make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels
bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after
death,
The undiscover'd country from whose
bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we
have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of
us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of
thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn
awry,
And lose the name of action.
Hamlet act 3, scene 1

Contents
Preface xiii
1 Narcissistic Injury, Narcissism, and the Self 1
The Self
Preanalytic Theories of the Self
Psychoanalytic Theories of the Self
Freud: Self as Developmental Achievement
Jung: Self as Life's Goal
Hartmann: Self-Representations
Jacobson: Affective Coloring of Self-Representations
Kemberg: Object Relations Development
Kohut: The Bipolar Self
Erikson: Identity
Winnicott: True and False .Selves
Stem: The Four Selves
Narcissism
Narcissistic Injury
lX