1st Edition
A Psychoanalytic Reflection on Narcissistic Parenthood and its Ramifications The Forgotten Echo
A Psychoanalytic Reflection on Narcissistic Parenthood and its Ramifications: The Forgotten Echo proposes a new perspective on narcissism, focusing on its destructive impact within relationships.
Hila Yahalom discusses the patterns and ramifications of traumatizing upbringing by narcissistic parents, exploring the resulting development of a defensive-behavioral pattern and personality structures in the child which constitutes a mirror image of narcissism. Yahalom assesses a wide range of psychoanalytic theories in presenting a broad outlook on narcissism, its roots, and the manner by which pathological narcissism may manifest in interpersonal relationships as ‘narcissistic abuse’. This book considers the narcissist’s perverted occupation of the psychic space of others, with both participants usually blind to the phenomenon – a blindness that is reenacted in therapy, affecting its course. This book contains clinical vignettes from the author’s work as well as examples from the life stories of Heinz Kohut (Mr. Z), Franz Kafka, and Maria Callas.
A Psychoanalytic Reflection on Narcissistic Parenthood and its Ramifications: The Forgotten Echo will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and other clinicians working with narcissism, parenthood, and dysfunctional family relationships.
1. Introduction 2.Pathological Narcissism, Pathogenic Narcissism 3.The Narcissistic Parenthood 4.The Narcissistic Family Dynamics 5.The Echoism 6.The Narcissistic Perversion 7.Clinical Implications 8.Feeling Like a Vermin and Dying Like a Dog: The Kafkaesque World and the Life of Kafka in Light of his Relationship with His Father 9.Only the Happy Bird Can Sing: The Life of Maria Callas in Light of Her Narcissistic Upbringing 10.Checks and Balances: Understanding and Forgiving Index
Biography
Hila Yahalom, MD, MBA, is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. She is currently a candidate at the Israel Psychoanalytic Institute, and lectures on diverse psychiatric and psychoanalytic topics. She previously served as the director of a psychiatric ward at Sha'ar Menashe Mental Health Center in Israel.
“A Psychoanalytic Reflection on Narcissistic Parenthood and its Ramifications: The Forgotten Echo by Hila Yahalom is a rich exploration of narcissistic abuse filled with many gradations and nuances. The book’s primary focus is clinical work and parental patterns but its depictions easily apply to vicissitudes of societal problems and traumatic leadership. We get a vivid sense of human difficulties and need for creative respectful responses. The book is a catalyst for sensitive observation, discovery and growth.”
Michael Eigen PhD., author, The Sensitive Self, Contact With the Depths, The Challenge of Being Human
“In this elegant and tightly organized book, Hila Yahalom delineates the impact of parents' pathological narcissism upon their children's psychosocial development. Skillfully interweaving fables, poetry, descriptive psychiatry, film studies, and classical and contemporary psychoanalysis, she offers penetrating insights into how parental narcissistic control forecloses the offsprings' psychic space for autonomy, individuation, and authenticity. Her work adds greatly not only to our understanding of narcissistic family dynamics but to our capacity to empathize, deconstruct, and help ameliorate the suffering of those who are burdened by this tragic legacy.”
Salman Akhtar, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Jefferson Medical College; Training & Supervising Analyst, Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia
