Narcissism: Denial of the True Self [Paperback]

Alexander Lowen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2004

NARCISSISM Are you a narcissist? Do you interact with someone who is? Contrary to popular belief, narcissists do not love themselves or anyone else. They cannot accept their true selves, constructing instead fixed masks that hide emotional numbness. Influenced by forces in culture and predisposed by factors in the human personality, narcissists tend to be

• More concerned with how they appear than what they feel

• Seductive and manipulative, striving for power and control

• Egotists, focused on their own interests but lacking the true values of the self -- self-expression, self-possession, dignity, and integrity

• Without a solid sense of self, which leads them to experience life as empty and meaningless

In this groundbreaking study, Dr. Alexander Lowen uses his extensive clinical experience to demonstrate how narcissists can recover their suppressed feelings and regain their lost humanity. By the use of Bioenergetic Analysis, the psychotherapy created by Dr. Lowen, a new possibility of a fulfilling and authentic life is presented for people with narcissistic characteristics and for those who interact with them.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Los Angeles Times Thoughtful and provocative.

About the Author

Alexander Lowen, M.D., is a world-renowned psychiatrist and leading practitioner of Bioenergetic Analysis -- the revolutionary therapy that uses the language of the body to heal the problems of the mind. A former student of Wilhelm Reich, he developed Bioenergetic Analysis and founded the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis. Dr. Lowen is the author of many publications, including Love and Orgasm, The Betrayal of the Body, Fear of Life, Joy, and The Way to Vibrant Health. Now in his tenth decade, Dr. Lowen currently practices psychiatry in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (March 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743255437
• ISBN-13: 978-0743255431
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

171 of 177 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lowen's Narcissism an Eye-Opening Experience, January 5, 1998

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This review is from: Narcissism (Mass Market Paperback)

Although another reviewer rated this book as a "1", I wonder whether we read the same book. We are, at least, very different readers. Perhaps for an academic, Lowen's discussion of narcissism might seem narrow. However, for the general reader, and especially for anyone who is fascinated (or tortured) by the paradox of self-destructive behavior, Lowen's analysis is revelatory. One does not have to accept BioEnergetic theory in general to conclude that Lowen has achieved some critical insights into the affliction known as "narcissism." Rather than the state of haughty self-absorption it is often made out to be, narcissism is in fact a form of slavery to a false image of the self. The theory that narcissism is actually a symptom of self-alienation, that can be relieved by bringing the sufferer back into contact with those portions of the self that he or she has banished, is most liberating. Lowen makes his points using understated, elegant prose that is more evocative of a collegial conversation than an argument. Highly recommended to anyone who has ever been baffled by behavior, whether of themselves or of a family member, reflecting a combination of gross insensitivity to others, intolerance of personal shortcomings, and a bewilderment at the seeming aridity of life itself. Lowen has gone a long way toward making sense of this suffering.

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Narcissism, December 3, 1999

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III Santi Tafarella (Lancaster, Ca.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Narcissism: Denial of the True Self (Paperback)

I am a wide reader in psychological literature--reading Freud, Reich, Jung etc. I noticed that one of the reviews suggested that Lowen's book is dated because modern psychiatry does not take the Oedipal/Electra complexes seriously. This is news to me. I found Lowen's book to be the best direct, no-nonsense description of the narcissistic personality I've read. He is not dated--and I hope this book goes into reprint someday.

112 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A helpful, but flawed, book, July 27, 2000

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Marcy L. Thompson (Sammamish, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Narcissism (Mass Market Paperback)

This book provides an good overview of narcissism, along with some very enlightening case studies. The introduction is a terrific overview of the whole landscape of narcissism. The book had a great deal of interesting information in it, along with some insight into how narcissism is passed from one generation to the next. The author wrote with a lot of compassion and insight into the narcissist's inner world.

However, I felt that the book was limited in several ways. First, it posits a continuum of narcissistic patterns which strikes me as too simplistic to account for the various ways in which narcissism recreates itself in the children of narcissists. Second, there was a great deal of attention paid to a particular clinical approach which was insufficiently explicated (that is, having to stop and figure out what he must mean when he described various bio-energetic therapy activities distracted me from the main point of what I was reading). Finally, the writing was somewhat wooden and often drew my attention away from the subject at hand.

On the whole, this was a valuable book. It just seemed that the author *almost* wrote a better book, and it's that better book that I really wanted to read.