ABSTRACT
This chapter draws substantially on Bollas's succinct and illuminating character sketches from Chapter One of his book Hysteria. Bollas characterizes the different personality disorders very much in terms of the individual's particular history. Regarding the narcissistic personality type he writes, experiencing the mother as uneven, the infant resolves the problem she poses by eradicating her and putting a part of the self in her place. Mollon reviewed nine major and representative models of narcissism--those of Kernberg, Kohut, Robbins, Gear, Hill, and Liendo, Schwartz-Salant, Rothstein, Grunberger, Rosenfeld, and Bursten-before synthesizing his own theory, calling on their findings and concepts. considerable pressure on the analyst. There are many other formulations of narcissism, including Symington's very particular, complex, and intriguing understanding. The narcissist sensitivities are often manifested as a moral defence that can be difficult to understand and in which the analysis can become stuck.
