Secondary Narcissism

Secondary narcissism corresponds to the return to the ego of the libido, withdrawn from objects. Freud described this for the first time (1914c) in relation to a state he called "paraphrenia," which corresponded to the precocious dementia of Kraepelin or to the schizophrenia of Bleuler. Withdrawal of the libidinal investment in objects, followed by a re-investment in the ego, was considered responsible for two characteristic manifestations: lack of interest in the external world and delusions of grandeur.