Narcissism (Ideas in Psychoanalysis)

by Jeremy Holmes

ISBN-10: 1840462450
ISBN-13: 978-1840462456

Book Description
Narcissism traces the manifestation of this universal psychological phenomenon, from Ted Hughes' Ovid to Freud and Melanie Klein.

About the Author
Jeremy Holmes is Consultant Psychiatrist/Psychotherapist in North Devon, Senior Lecturer in Psychotherapy at Exeter University, and Chair of the Psychotherapy Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. His interests are in attachment theory, the integration of psychotherapy within psychiatry and the treatment of severe personality disorder.

Customer Reviews

Best introduction to psychoanalytic views of narcissism..., October 12, 2005
By Stephen Armstrong (Hadley, Ma USA)

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.


Excellent Short Introduction, December 10, 2002
By Kenneth Angel (Colonial Heights, Virginia USA)

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"


Introduction to Narcissism, November 16, 2003
By Sam Vaknin "author of Malignant Self Love - N... (Skopje, Macedonia)

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'.