| Abstrakt: |
The paper first conceptualizes and then presents the clinical findings regarding the phenomenon of grand~osity when considered in its neurotic context. Clinical illustrations demonstrated that one not infrequently encounters such grandiose behavior in the beginning phase of analytic therapy with so-called crisis or "difficult" patients. The thesis was supported that intensive treatment often brings forth early narcissistic vestiges of early childhood which have managed to retain, in some encapsulated fashion, a predominant place in the patient's personality. It was concluded that such grandiose identity constructions served an integratcd purpose (i.e., a type of delusional restitutional function) which allowed the patient to contain severe infantile traumas and early fixations in a relatively adaptable neurotic personality. |
