ABSTRACT
The scrutiny of aggression as it is interrelated with the area of narcissism has, up to this point, been focused on the phenomenology of narcissistic rage and on the explanation of the matrix of archaic narcissism from which it arises. The relation between acute and chronic narcissistic rage in the area of the omnipotence of the grandiose self is paralleled by the relation between acute shame and chronic feelings of inferiority in the area of the exhibitionism of the narcissistic structure. The nonspecific narcissistic resistances are in general accompanied by a great deal of rage; the specific resistances, however, are usually characterized by the presence of hypochondria and of other vague fears. The mobilization of narcissistic rage is therefore not an end point in analysis, but the beginning of a new phase—a phase of working through which is concluded when ego dominance in the sector of the personality has been established.
