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Selena Sandalj

Mirror Stage and Narcissism

Lacan's statement "I is another" meets this clarification. Since the I created in mirror stage is based on an image, a whole sphere of the image-like is formed in the psychic, what Lacan calls imaginary. The imaginary is the mode of existence of the subject, in which the self-consciousness is located.

The Birth of Narcissism


Lacan describes the imaginary as a place of omnipotent fantasies and narcissistic traits based on the image of completeness that emerges during the mirror stage.

Through the mirror we anticipate in a mirage the maturation of power, in which we experience ourselves as autonomous and complete, although we are still completely dependent on our environment. Although we see ourselves complete for the first time, we do not yet feel this unity. Already Sigmund Freud described this mirror-image illusion of the other I as a form of the narcissistic "self", which was known in psychoanalysis as "primary narcissism". Primary narcissism is vital to adolescent development. In narcissism, the imaginary image holds the subject captive as if in an enchantment, the subject freezes on his imaginary greatness, falls in love with his I, and thus can prevent deeper, interpersonal relationships. The narcissistic traits in the subject become clear that in delusional states the completeness often breaks and the psychotic appears in dreams chopped off body parts, which he perceives as a traumatic threat. This brutal "dismemberment" of the body will be explained in the course of the text.

But where does the term narcissism actually come from?

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marlenasarraf
Dec 10, 2020

The secession of the mind is really interesting to me! I find it also really incredible how the mind tries to repress this "event" when being awake, but like every (traumatic) event: It then tries to process it in dreams while sleeping. It being processed in a very graphic way with body parts being separated from the main body for me definitely represents the objectification that takes place subconsciously trough the society.

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