Article The Role of Narcissism in Group Psychotherapy

This article analyzes five phases in the group process in which narcissism may, also on an archaic basis, be seen to be present, and its effect both on the individuals and the group process, as well as towards the conductor. The author also refers to the tasks of the therapist in respect of this narcissism, as it affects the individual, the other group members, and the group-as-a-whole. Key words: narcissism, group process, individuals, group develop-ment, archaic level of group relations In a therapy group a cohesion can only develop if the different participants are able to extend their own self – in other words their naricissism – on to the co-present others. Only by this inclusion of the other individuals in their own narcissism, i.e. only by the formation of a narcissistic group-self (Battegay, 1976), is the basis given for the bonding which forms a group and which lets the participants feel it to be their own. This fusion in the fantasy of the members with the objects, when it occurs to a medium extent, is a normal psychological phenomenon. I, therefore, do not evaluate each fusion tendency as a psychopathological symptom, as Kohut (1971, 1977) did. If, however, an individual has not enough narcissism, that is, respectively, self-assertiveness at his/her dis-posal, as is the case in narcissistic personality disorders or in borderline conditions as well as in depressives (Battegay, 1985), he/ she undergoes an exaggerated or almost a total fusion with the objects. Such a person tends to extend the rudiments of his/her narcissism in an extreme way on to the objects with the unconsciou