Narcissism is a concept of psychoanalysis that defines the individual that admires exaggeratedly yours own image and nourishes one excessive passion for yourself.
The term is derived from Narcissus, who according to Greek mythology, was a beautiful young man who awakened the love of the nymph echo. But Narcissus rejected that love and so was condemned to fall in love with his own image reflected in the water. Narcissus ended up committing suicide by drowning. Later, Mother Earth turned it into a flower (daffodil).
Being related to auto-eroticism, narcissism consists in a concentration of the sexual instinct on the body itself.
the individuals narcissists they are often closed, self-centered and lonely.
Learn more about Narcissus Myth.
narcissism according to Freud
According to the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, narcissism is a normal feature in all human beings. It is related to the development of libido (with sexual desire, eros).
In Freud's psychoanalytic line, narcissism as a sexual perversion is a fixation of a transitional phase of childhood, which is in itself normal. It is correlated, in part, with homosexuality and exhibitionism, among other characteristics of sexual conduct.
Narcissism turns into pathology, that is, it goes from the normal to the unhealthy state, when it comes into conflict with cultural and ethical ideas, becoming excessive and hindering the normal relationships of the individual in the environment Social.
According to the studies of Freud, narcissism can be divided into two stages: primary narcissism (auto-erotic phase) and the secondary narcissism (when the individual develops the ego and manages to differentiate himself - his desires and what attracts him - from the rest of the world).