Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited

GRANDIOSE LOSS OF CONTROL

Chapter 9

page 3

A vicious circle ensues: the absence of stabilisation and feedback functions provided by the SNSS leads to an excessive use of the Reactive Repertoire and to an incessant and exaggerated grandiosity compensation.

These raise the stimulation threshold of the PNSS and adversely affect the efficiency of their acquisition to the point of fully frustrating it. A loss of control of grandiosity follows, which leads to losses and to a Loss Dysphoria.

This, in turn, increases the grandiosity compensation within the Narcissistic Cycle.

The loss, therefore, is not, in this case, only of objects – but of NSS.

The Loss of Control of Grandiosity encourages a malignancy of the means for acquiring PNSS:

The projection of power is transformed to rage and humiliation directed at individuals or ethnic or other groups (misogyny, racism).

The projection of wealth is transformed to uncontrolled overspending (coupled with ego-dystony).

Publicity is mostly obtained through lies, indecent exposure, and fantasies.

The malignancy of the means to obtain PNSS transforms NSS into dysfunctional NSS. Instead of helping to reduce the Grandiosity Gap they widen it either directly, or by their very unavailability.

The heightened stimulus threshold causes a hierarchical creep up the ladder of NSS. Some NSS lose the ability to compensate for lost grandiosity and, thus, to bridge the Grandiosity Gap. These are a-functional NSS.

They lose this ability because of the increased stimulus threshold, which renders low their narcissistic content. Their narcissistic yield becomes insufficient.

There are different reactions to NSS, which cease to be functional (dys- and a- functional):

A loss of interest is felt by the narcissist as absolute in the case of a-functional NSS. This is part of the Reactive Repertoire: the repression of the consequences of important losses.

Rage is expressed in the case of dysfunctional NSS as a result of the Grandiosity Gap, which continues to widen despite all efforts. This is a feeling of helplessness and the failure of the protective mechanism of cognitive dissonance. A difficulty at securing sexual partners, for instance, worsens the Grandiosity Gap. The solution: a dissonant abstinence ("I never really like sex") and trying to relate to the very act of forgoing sex as NSS (=projection of exceptional personal strength). This is a part of the Reactive Repertoire aimed at curing a narcissistic injury. The dual dysphorias develop as well (Loss and Deficiency). Alternatively, the failure of the dissonance elicits rage, an inability to convert the dissonance to NSS, narcissistic injury and the two dysphorias.

In the case of Loss of Control of Grandiosity the loss is double: both of objects and of NSS, which are exposed either as a-functional or dysfunctional. The reactions are a loss of interest and rage attacks.

We must, therefore, differentiate between rage, which is a reaction to the loss of NSS through their transformation into dysfunctional NSS and to the widening of the Grandiosity Gap – and rage which is the malignant form of projection of power as PNSS (the humiliation of groups of people or of individuals).

When SNSS lose their functionality, the Loss of Control of Grandiosity and the malignancy process lead to perturbations in the SNSS transaction and in the process of locating the SNSS and conditioning it. For instance, the possibility of being attracted sexually may be affected (due to a dysfunctional PNSS), or the conditioning measures (due to a-functional SNSS), or the very SNSS transaction.

Actually there is an increase in the stimulus threshold which causes the SNSS Hierarchical Creep.

This is manifested through the increase in the velocity of the SNSS. The SNSS become a-functional and the narcissist loses any interest in them. He directs aggression and transformed aggression at them, trying to facilitate an abandonment and rapid loss in order to switch to the next SNSS. This is a malignancy of the SNSS transaction.

All this yields a Functionality Shift. There is the shift from dys- and a- functional NSS to NSS, which are still functional (still provide Narcissistic Supply needed to close the gap) – the Vertical Shift. And there is the increase in the dosage and the magnitude of NSS in the hope of restoring their functionality – this is the Horizontal Shift.

The Vertical Shift is part of a Loss of Control of Grandiosity and the Horizontal Shift is part of the malignancy process.

The dysphorias are "selection switches" between NSS Sets in the NSS Space. The selection process is carried out through the above mentioned functionality shifts. The NSS Cycle is the changing of the guard between NSS Sets within the NSS Space. Specifically reacting to the dysphorias some of them become functional (the Active Sets) and the other Sets lose their functionality (the Shadow Sets).

The Narcissistic Cycle is a specific reaction to specific dysphorias, which create a specific Grandiosity Gap, which calls for a specific grandiosity compensation. This is the "bias" of the Narcissistic Cycle.

The selection of the Active Sets responds to this bias – and so does the deactivation of the Shadow Sets. The bias also sets the parameters of the two shifts.

What determines the dysfunctionalisation of NSS is their (lack of) availability and what determines their a-functionalisation is their (lack of) yield of Narcissistic Supply in the PNS (=a specific culture and society).

Put differently: the Narcissistic Cycle is not completed (=does not cancel the dysphorias) if the NSS which can solve the dysphorias are not available (dysfunctional NSS), or if their yield of Narcissistic Supply is low in the specific PNS (a-functional NSS). In these cases, the dysphorias stay put and a Loss of Control and malignancy processes set in.

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