Marianne Leuzinger-Bohleber is a professor emeritus of psychoanalysis at the University of Kassel, Germany. She is a former director of the Sigmund-Freud-Institut in Frankfurt am Main, a senior scientist at the University of Medicine in Mainz, a training and supervising analyst, and the author of numerous books and articles. She is the recipient of awards, including the 2016 Sigourney Award and the IPA’s Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award.Stephan Hau, PhD, is a professor of clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden. He is also a member of the Research Committee and a member of the Research Grants Subcommittee of the IPA, as well as a co‑chair of the IPA’s RTP/Sandler Conference Subcommittee. He is the editor‑in‑chief of Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review and the author of numerous books and articles.Rogério Lerner, PhD, is a professor at the Institute of Psychology and the Faculty of Medicine (Department of Psychiatry) of the University of São Paulo. He is also a member of the Research Committee of IPA, co-Chair of Joseph Sandler Psychoanalytic Research Conference and Research Training Programme, and an associate member of the Brazilian Psychoanalytic Society of São Paulo.Erik Stänicke is professor of clinical psychology at the University of Oslo, Norway, and a training psychoanalyst. He is an experienced supervisor and teacher, and is the author of numerous books and articles.Siri Erika Gullestad is professor emeritus of clinical psychology at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is a training and supervising psychoanalyst, and she was awarded the Sigourney Award in 2019. She is an experienced teacher and supervisor, and is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Theory and Practice of Psychoanalytic Therapy: Listening for the Subtext (with Bjørn Killingmo, Routledge, 2020).

“This book provides an excellent, up-to-date psychoanalytic view of the clinical and growing extra-clinical phenomenon of narcissism. The book's collection of papers by leading psychoanalytic clinicians and researchers illustrates the complex nature of narcissistic experience and narcissistically motivated behaviours, providing a contemporary understanding of narcissism as a broad affective spectrum between the poles of a lively, realistically positive self-esteem and a possible self-aggrandizement with varying consequences for the quality of interpersonal relationships. In the course of this presentation, a fascination grows for the connection between clinical psychoanalysis and extra-clinical psychoanalytic research as well as for the inclusion of individual-centred as well as cultural-theoretical and social perspectives. Anyone who wants to know what contemporary psychoanalysis means in the 21st century will find central answers here that will stimulate their own thinking.” —Dr. med. Heribert Blass, Training Analyst, German Psychoanalytic Association (DPV), IPA-President elect“As pathological narcissism drives polarization, science denial, and political deception, this book provides a crucial psychoanalytic perspective on our time. Are we living in a 'narcissistic age,' where malignant, omnipotent leaders exploit unresolved vulnerabilities to manipulate the masses? Through rigorous clinical and empirical research, this work unpacks the deep entanglement of individual and collective pathologies shaping today’s crises. Understanding these forces is not just necessary—it is urgent! A must-read for anyone unwilling to succumb to illusory grandiosity, regression, and the seductive pull of destructive power.” —Prof. Dr.med. Ricardo Bernardi, Training analyst Uruguayan Psychoanalytic Association (APU), Former Dean of the Medical faculty of Universidad de Montevideo“This rich, timely, and vitally important book includes chapters by an international collection of sophisticated psychoanalytic theorists, researchers and clinicians presenting a much-needed broad spectrum of perspectives for understanding narcissism. Seeking a stronger interlinking between psychoanalytic knowledge of the largely unconscious individual mind and wider interdisciplinary dialogue, the chapters offer a contemporary understanding of narcissism’s impact on trauma, depression, as well group dynamics, collective regression, and the role of malignant leadership. Finally and most significantly in today’s turbulent times marked by autocratic turns and threats to democracy, the book sheds considerable light on powerful social issues and difficult cultural challenges. This is a book that should stimulate thinking and deepen awareness among social scientists, serious scholars, and psychoanalysts and other practitioners.” —Michael J. Diamond, Ph.D, Training and Supervising Analyst, Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies; Author, Ruptures in the American Psyche: Containing Destructive Populism in Perilous Times and Masculinity and Its Discontents: The Male Psyche and the Inherent Tensions of Maturing Manhood.

• List of Contributors Series editor forewordSilvia Flechner PrefaceSiri Erika Gullestad IntroductionMarianne Leuzinger-Bohleber, Stephan Hau, Rogério Lerner, Erik Stänicke & Siri Erika GullestadPart I: Narcissism in Society and CultureChapter 1. Pathological narcissism and large group regressionOtto KernbergChapter 2. The Return of the Authoritarian: Narcissism and Destructiveness in Nationalistic IdeologiesWerner BohleberChapter 3. Murderous narcissism in a terrorist act. A psychoanalytic perspectiveSiri Erika GullestadChapter 4. Putin is not the answer, but the question. On Neurotic Fears and Collective Narcissism: The Example of the new RussiaGerd KoenenPart II: Narcissism: Clinical Practice and ResearchChapter 5. Challenges in understanding narcissism in patients with autism spectrum disorder: Consequences for psychoanalytical work and researchRogério Lerner et alChapter 6. Types of narcissism: A neuropsychoanalytic contributionMark SolmsChapter 7. Diagnosis and evaluation of narcissismStephan DoeringChapter 8. Therapeutic Approaches to Narcissism in Transference-Focused PsychotherapyJohn F. Clarkin, Nicole Cain, Eve Caligor & Julia SowisloChapter 9. Are personality disorders disease variants or (extreme) normal variants? – fragments of an ongoing debateStephan HauPart III: Confronting Contemporary Cultural ChallengesChapter 10. Confronting modern Zeitgeist: Visions of psychoanalysis in life and mental health careErik Stänicke and Helene A. Nissen-LieChapter 11. Transgender – a challenge for psychoanalysisSiri Erika GullestadChapter 12. Adolescence in a digital age – developmental challenges, risk behavior, and potential spaceLine Indrevoll StaenickeChapter 13. Narcissism in “emerging adulthood”: Chances and risksInge Seiffge-KrenkeChapter 14. Narcissism, trauma and depression. Clinical observations from the MODE studyMarianne Leuzinger-BohleberChapter 15. Changes in dreams in psychoanalyses of chronic depressed patients in a narcissistic psychic retreat. Clinical Research in the MODE StudyTamara Fischmann, Gilles Ambresin & Marianne Leuzinger-Bohleber