Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for Narcissistic Personality
Abstract
We present an overview of psychoanalytic object relations perspectives on narcissistic pathology, with an emphasis on a form of psychodynamic psychotherapy, Transference Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) designed to treat personality disorders including NPD. We also review therapeutic modifications of TFP that help clinicians effectively treat patients with narcissistic pathology at all levels of personality organization, and provide illustrative case material.
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Processing painful emotions helps narcissists reduce maladaptive behaviors while increasing resilience, self-compassion, and empathy.
“Processing painful emotions has been shown to help narcissists reduce maladaptive behaviors while increasing resilience, self-compassion, and empathy (147).”
From Psychoanalytically informed MDMA-assisted therapy for pathological narcissism: a novel theoretical approach (2025) · cites this paper as [147]
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- Authors
- Diamond, D., Yeomans, F., & Levy, K. N.
- Affiliations
- City University of New York (US)
- Venue
- The Handbook of Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-07-20
- Pages
- 421-433
- OpenAlex
- W1508696697
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
- Type
- other
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- narcissistic personality disorder, transference-focused psychotherapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, object relations theory, narcissistic pathology, personality disorders, personality organization
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