ABSTRACT
Pathological and destructive narcissism is considered following concepts introduced by H. Rosenfeld in relation to the death instinct, as an internal organization that insistently and relentlessly commits murders of the self. A differentiation between normal and pathological narcissism is attempted. Using these theoretical contributions, a description of what might be considered a “narcissistic unit” or “narcissistic conglomerate” is introduced. Finally, the clinical concept of narcissism is examined from the point of view of Wilfred Bion’s theories of “narcissism vs. socialism”, “psychotic vs. non-psychotic part of the personality”, as well as “saturated vs. unsaturated”. Normal narcissism could be linked to “learning from experience” and to mental growth, representing a system completely unsaturated and open to new experiences. Following Bion, in normal forms of narcissism, a preconcept establishes a realization to construct a conception, which requires blending with an experience to create a concept.
