The I in You Part II Beyond Pathology: Clinical Practice and the Narcissism-Self Paradigmby Jeffry Luria, Phd

Psychoanalytic Explorations is a series in which faculty members and students of the NOBPC, as well as interested members of the community, present and discuss issues of current concern to them. The focus will be on clinical practice, theoretical challenges, and non-clinical applications of psychoanalytic theory; all presentations are intended to deepen attendees’ ability to think psychoanalytically. Each session will begin with a presentation followed by questions and answers and open discussion, with the intention of facilitating relaxed, informal peer exchange.

Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

Discussion begins at 11am Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom

We’ve discussed the Narcissistic-Self paradigm in our lives previously. Part II is designed to complement the gap between the previous talk’s emphasis on theory with an emphasis on clinical practice. The DSM-5 offers a constricted, pathology-based view of narcissism, while psychoanalytic practice reveals a far more nuanced reality.

We will cover the following questions: How do we use this new understanding to improve our work with patients? How does the Narcissistic-Self process create conflict-ridden quandaries in our patient’s lives and in the psychoanalytic treatment? Can we use this understanding in the framework of transference and countertransference?

These questions require us to move into the interior of the psychoanalytic experience, paying special attention to current language, specifically current semantics in psychoanalytic discourse. Through clinical examples, Dr Luria expands on the etiology of Narcissistic-Self drives and fantasies, exploring the delicate yin and yang of Self-Hatred and Self-Love. Recognizing these narcissistic ideals as operating in both the clinician and the patient, we hope to view these meanings differently, enabling us to reflect, inform, and offer openings to a deepening psychoanalytic process. Seeing conflict and interpersonal suffering through this lens can help us choose specific language and interventions to ameliorate them.

The goal is to attenuate Narcissism-Self; to shrink it. So “shrink”—used in the hitherto as an historical and defensive invective to describe psychoanalysis turns out to be both ironic and accurate.

Is the psychoanalytic relationship an intermittent but therapeutically necessary narcissistic-self fever dream transiently interrupted by awakenings of both patient and analyst? If so, is a successful analysis defined by more enduring awakenings?

Dr. Jeffry Luria, a clinical psychologist/psychoanalyst, began practicing in 1975. He trained as a psychoanalyst at the Post Graduate Center for Mental Health in New York City and later served as a supervising psychoanalyst at two training institutes there. He is a member of the faculty of the New Orleans Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center He is working on a book entitled The I in You, a slightly ego-centric stroll through Self and Narcissism in culture and clinical practice.

Learning Objectives:

• Examine Narcissism and Self processes and how it restricts human functioning and exacerbates conflicts in the psychoanalytic process .
• Analyze, expand and refine the specific connotative and denotative language clinicians use interventions designed to interpret and clarify Self and Narcissistic processes emerging in psychoanalytic treatment.
• Apply the framework of Narcissism and Self to broaden the clinician’s approach enabling a more open and deepening between them and their patients. Specifically, using the Narcissism-Self paradigm the transferential and counter-transferential process will be further explicated enabling a more deep and positive resolution of same.

Please join us at NOBPC or via Zoom. Participation is open to all. In-person space is limited so please register early.

Please click HERE for online registration. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.

Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

• NOBPC members $25
• Non-members $35

Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

Optional Readings:

• • Development of narcissism across the life span: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal studies. Orth, Ulrich , Krauss , Samantha , & Back, Mitja D. Psychological Bulletin, Vol 150(6), Jun 2024, 643-66.
  • Kesman, E., Masoumi, S., De Amicis, M., Mucci, C., & Scalabrini, A. (2026) . The vulnerability to shame for the narcissistic self. Psychoanalytic Psychology. Advance online publication. Journal Article #3.
  • The mediating role of maladaptive perfectionism between grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Reis, Lais Costa dos Santos Pereira , Rocha , Rafael Moreton Alves da , & Lim a-Costa, Ariela Raissa Personality and Individual Differences, Vol 248, Jan 2026, 1-7 Article 113487.