Customer Reviews

Narcissism (Ideas in Psychoanalysis)

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4 star:		(1)
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This short book (70 pages of text) is Holmes' essay on the theory, origins of, developmental trajectory of, and end results of both healthy and unhealthy narcissism. It is remarkably free from jargon, so it is appropriate for the lay person, but also has enough references to guide the college student or early graduate student. The writing is quite good, in contrast to most of the stuff I have read on narcissism.

I also liked the linking of the psychoanalytic concepts in narcissism to examples from literature (Ovid, Oscar Wilde, for example), and, of course, the Greek story itself.

This short book took about two hours to read carefully.

This very readable book is an excellent short introduction to the subject. Not very clinical though. For that get Sam Vaknin's "Malignant Self Love"

A surprisingly thorough introduction to pathological narcissism, its formation, phenomenology, effects and treatment options. Though the book is biased in favor of the various psychoanalytic schools (e.g., Object Relations), it is still a great value. Sam Vaknin, author of 'Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited'.