Draft:Narcissistic perversion

Narcissistic perversion (similar but not the same as malignant narcissism) is a notion first theorized by the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Paul-Claude Racamier, in the field of psychopathology. It is not a type of personality but a relational pathology which consists of a destructuring of the personality in which the notion of otherness does not exist.

Although the terms narcissistic perversion and narcissistic pervert have been popularized, they are yet to be officially recognized by the scientific community and do not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) nor in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Furthermore, these terms are often overused, referring instead to general narcissistic personality disorders.

Definition by Paul-Claude Racamier in 1986
It was initially identified by Paul-Claude Racamier who described a particular form of perversion in 1986. He then clarified this notion in several publications in 1987 and 1992 as well as in two chapters of his book entitled Génie des origines in 1992, in which he explains the following: "The perverse narcissistic movement is essentially defined as an organized way of defending oneself from all internal pain and contradiction, and expelling them to simmer elsewhere, while over-valuing oneself, all at the expense of others." He explains that he is talking about a collective matter, far from being individual or intrapsychic.

Before its definition, the thought of the notion would have preceded its formalization, according to Paul-Claude Racamier himself, as he explains in his founding article of 1986 (p. I306).

In 1992, the book Génie des origines  was published, in which Paul-Claude refers to the theme of narcissistic perversion in chapters 9 and 10. Those chapters led to book to being republished in 2012 under the title Les perversions narcissiques.

The following concise definition by Racamier can equally be found in 1993: "A sustainable organization characterized by the ability to protect itself from internal conflicts, and in particular from mourning, by asserting itself to the detriment of an object manipulated such as a utensil or a foil."

Other authors
The notion was clarified by Alberto Eiguer in 1989 in his book The Narcissistic Pervert and His Accomplice who would later speak of a “particular case of the pathology of narcissism”.

The term moral harassment described by Marie-France Hirigoyen in 1998 refers to that of “narcissistic pervert” and popularized this term. From then on, multiple press articles picked up the word.

In the expression “narcissistic pervert”, which has become popular, the “psychic agony” or the “psychotic denial” mentioned in the founding article is no longer at issue.

Narcissistic perversion has never been a recognized clinical disorder, unlike, for example, narcissistic personality disorder.

Situation in the work and thought of Paul-Claude Racamier
The theme emerges from the study of the paradoxes of schizophrenia by Racamier who wrote an article in 1978: "After all, narcissism was only one perversion among others in Havelock Ellis' inventory, before that Freud, taking up the word, finds in the notion the extensions which have transfigured it (if the idea of narcissism comes in connection with the paradox, it is not by chance)." Entitled Schizophrenia and Paradoxality, the article also bears an evocative subtitle: “Where we see schizophrenics give a new answer to Hamlet’s question”.

Two years later, in 1980, this time he explicitly stated the notion of narcissistic perversion in a book entitled The Schizophrenics:

“In this report we will endeavour to show that schizophrenia is organized in a random manner along the path which ranges from acute psychosis to narcissistic perversion."

The title of the chapter is: "Of several psychotic constants, where we oppose the anti-conflictuality of schizophrenics to the intra-conflictuality of neuroses".

The notion of narcissistic perversion was not set until Racamier developed the thematic in 1986 in his article entitled “Between psychological agony, psychotic denial and narcissistic perversion”.

The narcissistic pervert progresses through the psychological deconstruction of his victim then the reconstruction. A constant gaslighting. For this, Racamier refers to the Freudian notion of denial, and specifies that “all proven psychosis is the fruit of a denial which fails” (p. I301), then evokes the principle of this “psychological catastrophe” (p. I304 ) before addressing self-generation of what satisfies the psyche by speaking of “orgasms of the ego” of which narcissistic perversions are a part (the title is in the plural).

Racamier also recalls the prior use of this terminology by P. Greenacre and J. Chasseguet among others, (p. I306) before defining (p. I307) a: “active propensity of the subject to nourish their own narcissism at the expense of others; It is therefore not a sexual perversion: rather a perversity” that we are dealing with. He then explains:

"'Its function is twofold: for the perverted, it is a matter of ensuring their own immunity from conflict and the pain of mourning, and of narcissistically valuing themselves (in relation to deep and hidden flaws) by attacking the ego of the other person, enjoying their ruin; this ruin is then attributed to him, which means that the perverse enjoyment is always redoubled. (p. I307).""The perverse narcissistic movement is essentially defined as an organized way of defending oneself from all internal pain and contradiction, and expelling them to simmer elsewhere, while over-valuing oneself, all at the expense of others."