Primary Narcissism, the Double, and Otherness

Present debates about primary narcissism, fuelled by the recent discoveries of neuroscience and development psychology, lead us to have a more accurate view of its place in metapsychology. Starting off from this research, the author’s hypothesis is that there exist two directions in primary narcissism, one turned to the object, the other to the subject. This supposes the necessary investment of the double as object, gradually built as similar to and different from oneself. This process enables us to describe the forms of otherness that accompany subjectivity during the construction of narcissism and identity.