Contemporary narcissism and paranoid developments

Abstract

Starting from a psychopathological approach, the current paper sought to describe psychological and relational consequences that in last decades derived from new valorization and productive processes on the basis of substantial socio-cultural transformations. This reasoning arises from the analysis of contemporary society in regard to which the ideology of performance has assumed a prominent role. The society of performance is subservient to the imperatives of profit and valorization which have been internalized by common sense deeply influencing identity related processes. In such a society, specific forms of mental sufferance regarding the experiences of failure, unworthiness and guilt may show up, being related to the potential failure of performances. These transformations show a significant effect on narcissistic dynamics which nowadays seem derived from a more fragile self-ideality. Narcissistic wounds, with their experiences of failure and worthlessness, are not the only psychopathological developments that may occur in this frame. What we sought to describe in the current paper is the possibility of different paranoid experiences arising from intrapsychic tensions in their turn related to the abovementioned socio-cultural transformations. The aim of this contribution was to describe specific transient paranoid developments that never appear structured as true delusions: these psychotic experiences may act as a rebalancing process, somehow compensatory, in regard to such psychological functions that have been stressed by identitary anguish and experiences of failure and worthlessness.