The Narcissistic Scenarios of Parenthood

Abstract

The authors begin by pointing out that Freud always considered parent-child relations in terms of the child's psychic development and took little account of the parents' experience of the relationship and its psychic effects on them. They recall Freud's distinction between the anaclitic and narcissistic modes of relationship and show how these are unconsciously embodied and enacted in varying proportions in the cases observed in their own clinical practice of therapeutic consultations with parents and young children. After a review of the relevant psychoanalytic literature, the authors present their concept of the narcissistic scenarios of parenthood, which include parental projection on to the child, parental counter-identification, a specific aim and a relational dynamic that is acted out. Depending on the individual situation, the effects may help to structure the developing psyche or, if the narcissistic element is excessive, they may be pathological. The authors consider the literature on the application of psychoanalysis to therapeutic interventions with parents and children, stressing the technical importance of establishing a therapeutic focus. These ideas are illustrated by a detailed case history showing the interaction between a mother and a 4-year-old girl and how it was modified by a short therapy. The differences between interpretation in this situation and in the classical psychoanalytic setting are explained, and the paper ends with some comments on the transmission of psychic elements from generation to generation.

The psychic envelopes in psychoanalytic theories of infancy

“…Parental projections are more or less constraining, with more or less weight being exerted on the baby. Manzano et al (1999) and Palacio-Espasa (2007) described the various “narcissistic scenarios” of parenting according to the rigidity of the parents' projections into the baby. The baby identifies itself with the place that the parent gives it and that place is more or less constraining.…”

Influência de fatores familiares sobre a saúde mental de crianças e de adolescentes

“…Outros desenvolvimentos da psicanálise forneceram pontos de vista dinâmicos sobre o funcionamento familiar, que contribuíram para esclarecer a origem de numerosos distúrbios psicopatológicos, sem no entanto ceder ao preconceito etiológico que denunciamos anteriormente. Citaremos as noções de neurose familiar proposta por Laforgue (1936) e Leuba (1936), aquela das interações fantasmáticas proposta por Cramer e Kreisler em 1981, aquela, enfim, de cenário narcísico da parentalidade recentemente proposta por Manzano et al (1999). Essas três noções servem para descrever a dinâmica inconsciente subjacente a uma disfunção familiar, a uma perturbação na relação pais/criança ou ao fracasso de uma função parental.…”

“…Os cenários narcísicos da parentalidade são descritos da seguinte maneira por Manzano et al (1999) ... a partir da análise de situações da prática clínica com pais/bebês e crianças pequenas, eles (os autores) puderam constatar que encenações inconscientes, similares àquelas descritas por Freud como próprias às relações amorosas narcísicas entre adultos estão presentes em proporção e formas variáveis em todas as relações pais/crianças. Eles foram levados a formular o conceito de "cenários narcísicos da parentalidade" constituídos por quatro elementos essenciais: uma projeção dos pais sobre a criança, uma identificação complementar do pai e/ou da mãe (contra-identificação), um objetivo específico e uma dinâmica relacional atuada.…”

Parents and Their Child—and the Analyst in the Middle

“…I have noticed in particular that in such cases a pact tends to be formed between parents as if the couple was composed of siblings: the couple is unconsciously made up of brother and sister in search of an impossible reparation. The couple's concentration on such a task tends to compromise their capacity to bring up their own children as beings that are different from themselves, resulting in a 'narcissistic scenario' as described by Manzano et al (1999). The superego fails to bring about its organising function and does not hand down a heritage on which other agencies are articulated, and instead the transgenerational mandate tends to be formed in its place.…”