Addiction Is Narcissism

Ayla Michelle Demir

This journal article looks briefly at Freud’s Psychoanalytic concepts of auto-erotism,

regression, fixation, denial and primary, secondary and pathological narcissism, to understand
addiction and compulsive behaviours/practices. Central to understanding any psychical or human
behavioural phenomena psychoanalytically, is Freud’s large scale Meta-Psychological schema of
the Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latent and Genital stages of psychosexual development and his concept of
Libido, the instinctual sexual energy or life force that drives his work and this article. I also draw on
his theories of need deprivation, separation anxiety and dependence on narcissistic supply and
conclude by drawing attention to the issue of whether or not a sufficiently conscious adult is making
a choice to repeat or is driven by a compulsion to repeat, a crucial distinction to be made in
understanding addiction.

Freud’s essay On Narcissism (1914) developed the concept of auto-eroticism, the idea that an
infant initially takes its own body as a sexual object and that at the start of life, its libido i.e. life
energy, its psyche and attitude towards primary carers, is narcissistic i.e. based on the other’s
capacity to provide the infant with attention, energy, pleasure and satisfaction. Narcissism is
excessive love of the self, when most of a person’s energy and affections are fixated upon their self.
The focus of a child, on its own body and on the gratification of its instinctual needs e.g. hunger,
Freud termed primary narcissism and is understandable considering the helpless condition of the
human baby. In adults too, some degree self love and self affection is essential to maintain self-
esteem and the proper functioning of the ego. Problems and illnesses occur however, when the
relationship between libidinal energy investment and expenditure in the self and/or in others,
becomes misdirected, imbalanced and fixated.

Freud initially trained as a neurologist, so his psychological theories were born of and directly
concerned with bodily processes, as well as psychical processes. Attached, as they are, to bodily
functions, Freud used his psychological concepts and his theory of psychosexual development, to
show the connection between habitual addictive behaviours/practices and areas/functions of the
body. In his theory of psychosexual development, an infant is said to pass through five stages i.e.
the Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latent and Genital stages of psychosexual development. Each stage is
associated with a part of the body that is an erotogenic zone, i.e. the mouth, anus, penis and genital
organs respectively. During the oral stage, interest i.e. libidinal psychosexual energy focuses on the
mouth. During the anal stage, interest/energy focuses on the anus. During the phallic stage interest

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focuses or put psychoanalytically, energy cathexis (investment) is on the penis. After a latent
period, finally the genital stage is when life energy is invested in sexual activity.

Important to note, is that the four erogenous zones - mouth, anus, penis and vagina - are all
openings and outlets of the body, that become particularly vulnerable and sensitive to erotic
stimulation at certain stages of sexual development. The openings of the eyes, ears and nose can be
understood as the most highly developed erogenous zones that have evolved into organs of sense
perception, receiving and emitting subtle transmissions of energy. But even these most developed
psychosomatic body organs become inhibited and damaged in their functioning and activity i.e. in
their processing of libidinal energies and require psychotherapeutic intervention to treat.

The concept of libido runs through Freud’s work, as an instinctual sexual life energy/force,
that comes into conflict with the conventions of society. Freud thought that it was the need to
control sexual energy that resulted in neuroses and other mental illnesses. According to his theory
of psychosexual development, the infant’s libido focuses on a particular body organ/erogenous zone
at each developmental stage and cannot develop onto the next stage of sexual development, without
resolving the developmental conflict of the stage that the energy is catheted (invested) in. At each
stage, the child has certain instinctual needs e.g. to feed, to defecate and urinate, to masturbate and
be loved, etc, but gets frustrated when these instinctual needs are not immediately met by carers in
the environment, so that gratification and instinctual relief is not immediately supplied. Freud
thought that if a child fails to immediately attract the attention of its mother/primary carer, it
regresses back into an earlier narcissistic stage of development. While ample meeting of a child’s
needs makes the child reluctant to progress, both frustration and overindulgence lock some of the
libidinal energy into the stage in which the frustration or overindulgence occurs, resulting in a
fixation of energy in that part of the body and activities focused around that area of the body.

Psychoanalytically, health is equated with the free flowing movement of libido, the life force,
which needs to be available to power mental and physical activity. In a healthy scenario, a child
progresses normally through the psychosexual stages of development, resolving each
developmental conflict at each stage and moving on. Little libido remains invested or fixated in any
particular stage or corresponding erogenous zone. But if a child or adult fixates at a particular
stage, their method of obtaining gratification and satisfaction, remains characterized by that
particular stage and effects and dominates their personality and behaviour. Fixation, is the failure to
progress from an earlier stage of psychosexual development e.g. oral fixation on the mouth, or
progress from an earlier relationship e.g. fixation on the mother or father. The term is used more

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broadly however, for any relationship which is seen as inappropriately attached, intense and
dependent.

Secondary narcissism is Freud’s concept for the love of self that results when a child introjects
and internalises qualities of a primary carer, a defence mechanism that enables it to deny that it is
separate from the parent/primary carer. Also called narcissistic regression, secondary narcissism
occurs when a child or adult encounters an obstacle to its development and retreats into an earlier
narcissistic state, rather than address the immediate hindrance. While regressed in the earlier
developmental stage, they feel omnipotent and constantly seek more energy and attention.

Similarly, pathological narcissism is where a narcissist introjects and internalises a negative

object or person perceived as bad, then harbours socially forbidden feelings towards it such as
hatred, envy and other forms of aggression. These negative feelings reinforce the narcissist's
internal self-image as a bad person, so that gradually they develop a dysfunctional sense of self-
worth and their self-esteem becomes unrealistically low and distorted. In an effort to repress these
negative instincts and feelings, the narcissist uses a fixation, such as a drug addiction, to suppress
all instincts and feelings and their aggression is channelled into destructive fantasies and socially
legitimate even if illegal outlets such as drug taking, dangerous sex, dangerous sports, gambling and
crime. According to Freud, when libido investment in others fails, to produce gratification for the
self or fair and justifiable relations with others, secondary and pathological narcissism occurs and is
played and acted out through addictions.

The Psychoanalytic view of addiction is that it is a fixation of sexual energy, a narcissistic

defence mechanism that allows the addict in fantasy and repetitive practices, to maintain control
over internal instincts and phantasies and external others. That is, control over inner phantasy
figures, based on memory traces of earlier real life relational experiences with primary others.
Through habitual, repetitive, fixated and compulsive behaviours and practices, libidinal energy
flows back into the narcissistic addict, instead of towards others and the addict becomes
energetically, psychologically and physically dependent on the drug or whatever repetitive
compulsive habit or object they are addicted to.

The most common example is the smoking drug addict, who regresses to the oral stage of
psychosexual development, where they act out omnipotent behaviours associated with that stage.
But this habitual acting out is hindered by recourse to auto-erotism and fantasy, which further
deflects libido into the self, so that the addict is unable to invest their energy in others.
Psychoanalytically, addicts are seen as having narcissistic personalities, as they are insatiable. All

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their energy is directed towards obtaining one thing, either a drug or the attention/affection of a
person in the form of affirmation and admiration, for the gratification and satisfaction of their self.
In psychoanalysis this energy/attention from others that the addict craves, is referred to as
narcissistic supply and its fixations and movements are recognised, tracked and traced to relational
fixation points in the recent and distant past with significant others and to defensive armouring in
particular areas of the body, in analysis of one’s psychodynamics i.e. psychosexual energy
exchanges, transactions and fixations. To get constant energy and attention, the narcissist/addict
projects a regressed powerless false self onto others and uses their true life energy to maintain their
regressed state and false self, to regulate their self-worth and to control others. Addictive and
pathological behaviour is exploitative of others, it does not take into account the mutual satisfaction
of two separate people involved in a relationship. The ritualistic compulsive behaviour is in fact a
repetitive re-enactment of a past relation and has little to do with people in the present real world.

A major theme for all addicts is that they have experienced need deprivation in the past.
Characteristic is a history of traumatic child-parent relations, which affected their ability to relate to
others in childhood and adulthood. Usually they either lacked affectionate relations with their
primary carer and experienced traumatic relations with them, so they have no healthy internal role
models as templates to help them relate to people in the present. A narcissistic addict mother, may
have had low tolerance for her child’s instinctual needs and frustrations. She may have been unable
to provide the nurturing the child needed.

In adulthood, this results in separation anxiety that sends the addict to their eroticised fantasies
and ritual habits, where they experience safety, security and a suppression of their unconscious
desire to maintain a tie to the (neglectful or missing) primary other. Paraphernalia such as the drug,
alcohol, tobacco, bottle, papers, needle, syringe, etc themselves become objects that symbolically
represent the primary carer who cannot be experienced as separate. There is a wish to go back to a
state of psychical fusion, an oceanic feeling of oneness with the primary carer. The addict’s early
life need deprivation results in intense interpersonal anxiety, so that they experience anxiety in all
intimate relationships. Because they have such intense anxiety about getting their instinctual needs
met by others and are desperate for fulfilment, they turn to a reliance on fantasies, rituals and
enactments to alleviate anxiety about intimacy and achieve a sense of self-affirmation.

Addictive and pathological behaviours arise when we see people get trapped in repetitive
cycles of compulsion, secrecy, loss of control, guilt, lies, self-hatred and shame. However, whether
a repetitive practice/behaviour/activity can be judged an addiction or not, is determined by an
individual’s inner subjective experience. The difference between healthy repetition and pathological

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repetition, is the difference between a person who has a solid sense of self and can consciously
choose their actions and relationships, and a person who still needs to develop a sufficient sense of
self to be able to fairly relate to others.

The standard psychological definition of addiction is continued and compulsive use of a

substance and/or repetitive ritual behaviour, despite adverse consequences. Taking this standard
psychological definition of addiction into account, it would be fair to assume that an adult should be
consciously able to determine for themselves what constitutes adverse consequences and whether or
not their behaviour is compulsive. The central issue here is whether the drug use and/or ritual
behaviour/practice is compulsive or not. Did the adult consciously choose their repetitive attitude,
ideology or practice? Psychoanalytically thinking, this is an unfair question, for few are conscious
and the unconscious i.e. merger with the oceanic collective psyche, prevails.

Questions can be posed to an addict in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, addicts can find a
place to acknowledge their deepest instinctual needs that were not met in the past, learn to mourn
their loss and become energetically free and sexually satisfied in the present, rather than chained to
a historical internal object i.e. a phantasy figure, or to an unfair/unsatisfying and limiting historical
behavioural/relating pattern that must compulsively repeat itself in the present. What is needed is
for the addict to be willing to undergo the hard work of personal healing. Emotional blockages and
perceptual distortions can be finally faced, worked through, understood and resolved. Addicts can
learn to lessen narcissistic and dependent psychical states through learning new psychological
processes, rather than repeating compulsive ritual behaviours, so that they become less anxiety
ridden and dependent. With psychological healing, addicts can begin to reinvest their energy in
present day relationships with real people in mutually satisfying, fulfilling and rewarding
relationships.

(See Instinct Is Conservative Appendix on following page.)

Bibliography

Freud, S. (1914). On Narcissism. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of
Sigmund Freud, Volume XIV (1914-1916): On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement,
Papers on Metapsychology and Other Works, p.67-102.

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 Schwartz-Salant (1982) Narcissism and Character Transformation: The Psychology of Narcissistic
Character Disorders. Inner City Books, Toronto.
Appendix: Instinct Is Conservative (Journal Article on Freud’s Instinct Theory separate word doc.)

This short essay on the psychical operations of the Life and Death Instincts, as seen in the Object Relations theories
of Melanie Klein, was my first glance at Psychoanalytic Instinct Theory, studied and written in the Spring of 2008.
Three years later, in the Autumn of 2011, I was in possession of the entire 24 volumes of the Collected Works of
Sigmund Freud, at my home and able to study them at leisure. A Psychoanalysis research associate on the
Psychoanalysis, Literature and Practice Seminar Series at the School of Advanced Study, University of London,
suggested I read Freud’s essay the Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Chapter 1 in Volume 18 of the Standard Edition
of the Collected Works of Sigmund Freud. To my dismay the Beyond the Pleasure Principle chaper 1 of volume
18 is a very long essay indeed in 7 parts, but I was curious and had a desire to explore Freud’s writings as it felt like
an adventure. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Part 5 of the Beyond the Pleasure Principle essay is where
Freud lays down the fundamental components of his Instinct Theory. My essay attached here is British
psychoanalyst Melanie Klein’s interpretation, development and use of some of the possible psychical mechanisms
and processes that can be said to result from Freud’s Instinct Theories. In this Abstract (also attached as an
Appendix to my Kleinian, Life and Death Instincts in Object Relations Theory essay), I am tempted to summarize
Freud’s actual Instinct Theory itself, as described in Part 5 of Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Vol. 18, p.34-43, as I
have never heard it discussed or even mentioned in any Psychoanalytic context and I think it merits attention,
especially considering the current Environmental zeitgeist and hegemony that we are all being subjected to.

In comparison with Klein’s use of Instinct theory, it is plainly evident that she was interested in the functions of
instincts as they can be seen operating in everyday life and death experiences and relations, while Freud was much
more interested in the very nature of instinct itself. I hope my summary of Freud’s Instinct Theory will show how
deep and wide variation in Psychoanalytic theorizing and practice is and how open and attentive Psychoanalytic
inquiry and investigation is to an individual theorist’s inherent psychical constitution and conditioned
psychodynamics, born of their inner personal/subjective life and death experiences, their external relations with
significant others and the external collective conditions that individuals are subjected to. People,
individuals/subjects, instinctively find, perceive, understand and even believe what they desire to know and this is
one of the reasons why every reader/thinker is biased and projects onto and conditions a text with their own needs,
ideas, prejudices, hopes, wishes and delusions. Every past thought and feeling is reawakened and modified by fresh
experience through the cycles of time. I certainly can be accused of spinning Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle
(Part 5) text to suit my own interests and purposes, just as Melanie Klein took Freud’s ideas where she and her
colleagues in the British School of Psychoanalysis (that was not yet formed at that time) were heading. Individuals
have their own agenda, but can’t achieve it without others, as the Psychoanalytic theories of French psychoanalyst
Jacques Lacan have made exceptionally clear, in his own way, for his individual purposes and for the purposes of
the collective (professional, social, political, etc.) ideologies that he chose to cathect. There can be no Self,

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whatever you want to call it - individual, person, human being, human organism, etc. - without an Other, because of
the function of the I.

Ayla Michelle Demir (December 2011)