Etiology of the masochistic and narcissistic personality.

Abstract

It is the premise of this article, that at least in some instances, narcissistic and masochistic characters may develop from different role assignments in the same family (i.e., families with narcissistic dynamics). It is hypothesized that the child who later becomes narcissistic becomes assigned the role of the good child, remains merged with the mother, and becomes her ego-ideal. In contrast, the mother projects the egodystonic aspects of herself onto the child who becomes scapegoated, more willful, and defiant and eventually masochistic. The author has observed among her patients that some variables that seem to have contributed to the particular role assignment of a given child in the family are birth order, temperament, gender, resemblance to grandparents or significant objects in parents' life, and/or innate talents, gifts, and differences. It is suggested that the presence of narcissistic dynamics in the families of both masochistic and narcissistic characters may account for the similarities between the two character structures previously noted in the literature. It is obviously a limitation of this article that conclusions about family members (i.e., mothers and siblings) are based on reports of patients during long-term psychoanalytic treatment rather than direct observation. It is thus recommended that future research efforts attempt to verify these hypotheses through longitudinal family studies.