Kateryna Lisovenko

Wczesna relacja matka—dziecko w psychopatogenezie narcystycznych zaburzeń osobowości             19

Early mother—child relation in the pathogenesis of narcissistic personality disorder             19

Summary

This article explores the issue of the developmental psychopathology of narcissistic personality disorder based on object relation theory and through the perspective of the mother-child relationship. M.Mahler, H.Kohut, O.Kenrberg and A.Schore's concepts are presented in the article to assist in explaining the nature of pathogenesis found in the early relational experience of the narcissistic character. According to Mahler's Separation-Individuation Theory there are three contributors to narcissism: self-love, omnipotence and the primitive valuation of the infant's accomplishments. The development of these three elements is dependent on a subphase-adequate type of mothering. Kohut and Kernberg's theories describe the defensive and deficit-based pathology in the early stages of the child's relationship with the caregiver in the case of narcissistic personality. Finally, Schore accents the role of shame regulation in its pathogenesis that emerges in the practicing period of mother-child relationship interactions. Each of these theories, despite their differences, stresses the importance of the mother-child relationship perspective in the understanding and treatment of narcissistic personality disorder.