El círculo roto

Vicisitudes del narcisismo en los grupos

Abstract

In this paper we try to deploy the subject of narcissism. In the first place, we deploy our subject from Freud’s psychoanalytic conceptualization of narcissism. Secondly, we study narcissism’s effects on education in general, especially in higher education; that is to say the ghosts that wander around the educator an the student and the link formed between these last two. Thirdly, we discuss the particular, different, and fluctuating forms of circulation of narcissism in groups as well as in institutions from a theoretical and empirical point of view. We offer two examples in the voice of students that participated in a “Reflection Group” and in “Psychoanalytic Psychodrama Workshop” group. We talk about the experience of “group narcissism”, of self-hate, of the potential development of love when one is able to recognize otherness, of psychic consistency and its importance in group relationships as well as in institutional relationships, that is to say, in social relationships. We believe that narcissism –a concrete phenomenon of individual and collective subjectivity– hasn’t been accorded adequate reflection. In general, narcissism is not a conscious process, but occurs unconsciously; we intend to pass on the advantages of this knowledge, and also the disadvantages –sometimes deadly– of being unaware of this knowledge.