Transference and Narcissism

Abstract

We expose here one session of a patient who went through a delirious episode a short time afterwards he started his analysis; in this session, the transferential display seems close to the narcissistic transferences as described by H. Kohut. We state the question whether this transferential characteristics are due to a narcissistic structure as Kohut describes them, or after the antecedents pointed out, they go beyond what this author has exposed, and thus we could consider this patient as borderline. Finally we expose some reflections with reference to technical aspects, and to the aim of the analytical work with this kind of patients, that is, to achieve a major discrimination leading to the possibility of a more integrated ego, strengthened by new introjections of firm and lasting figures.