ABSTRACT
The “new superego” reflects a narcisstically based morality. Kohut’s distinction between “guilty man” and “narcissistic man” is relevant. For some in our culture, attaining one’s high ideals and even “goodness” is reached through physical exercise and diet. It is reached by acquiring wealth. Vast income inequality in our cities is highly visible due to the media. It often activates greed and envy. Patients report being envious of their parents, siblings, and their analysts because they seem wealthier than themselves. There are special countertransference difficulties when analysts work with those who are much wealthier than themselves. These difficulties are expressed in setting fees, collecting fees, feeling overly-dependent on the income received, a lack of empathy for the problems of the wealthy, and a possibility of boundary-crossing when invited (seduced) into their wealthy patients’ outside lives.
Clinical vignettes are presented. Theoretical conceptualizations of the superego, greed, and envy (Freud and Klein) are discussed.
