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The term [[narcissistic ]] [[withdrawal ]] is used to describe the turning back of the [[individual]]'s [[libido ]] from the [[object ]] onto themselves. Narcissistic withdrawal is what occurs in the [[hallucinatory ]] [[regression ]] of [[dreams]]. This term is also used in [[pathology]], where narcissistic withdrawal is differentiated from regression in the [[dream]]-[[work ]] and must be studied in relation to the ego. Finally, in the context of [[psychoanalytic ]] [[treatment]], following Donald [[Winnicott ]] (1954), regression, as a [[process ]] of [[change]], can be differentiated from withdrawal, a [[state ]] that is not very productive. Thus [[narcissism]], inseparable from the [[notion ]] of regression, can be considered as a movement, with a [[libidinal ]] trajectory from [[subject ]] to object followed by a [[return ]] of the object-[[cathexes ]] to the subject.

Sigmund [[Freud ]] had referred to narcissism several [[times ]] before devoting a [[whole ]] study to it in 1914: "[[On Narcissism]]: An Introduction." Here he broached the notion of withdrawal: "The condition of sleep, too, resembles [[illness ]] in implying a narcissistic withdrawal of the positions of the libido onto the subject's own [[self]], or, more precisely onto the single [[wish ]] to sleep.... In both states we have . . . examples of changes in the distribution of libido that are consequent upon a change in the ego" (p. 83)—the ego that is manifested in the dream [[appearance]]. This withdrawal is also found in illness or [[pain]], where libidinal cathexes are withdrawn from the object to the ego. Freud returned to this notion of regression in "A Metapsychological [[Supplement ]] to the [[Theory ]] of Dreams" (1916-17f [1915], where he wrote: "We distinguish two regressions—one affecting the [[development ]] of the ego and the [[other ]] that of the libido. In the state of sleep, the latter is carried to the point of restoring [[primitive ]] narcissism, while the former goes back to the [[stage ]] of hallucinatory [[satisfaction ]] of wishes" (pp. 222-223). In "Mourning and Melancholia" (1916-17g [1915]), written the same year, he took up the study of the object, showing that following a disappointment linked to the object the latter is decathected of its libidinal charge, which flows back onto the ego in a movement of narcissistic regression.

In "La tendance convergente de la regression narcissique" (The tendency towards convergence in narcissistic regression; 1996), César and Sara Botella insist on "the [[unifying ]] [[instinctual ]] quality of narcissistic regression, for which the [[model ]] is the [[dream-work]]." Alongside this positive approach towards narcissistic regression, we can consider the [[case ]] in which the subject appeals to narcissistic withdrawal as a defensive solution. In [[Life ]] Narcissism, [[Death ]] Narcissism (1983/2001), André Green viewed narcissistic withdrawal as "yet [[another ]] [[lure]]. Freud showed he was aware of this in his description of 'Libidinal Types' (1931). The narcissistic [[character ]] type is more independent, but also more vulnerable" (p. 101). And indeed, Freud believed that evolution towards [[psychosis ]] was possible in this type of [[personality]]. Green added: "The disinvestment of the object and narcissistic withdrawal expose the subject's ego to a very threatening type of [[anxiety]]: narcissistic anxiety" (p. 101). He viewed this withdrawal as a precarious refuge that comes into [[being ]] as a [[defense ]] against a disappointing or untrustworthy object. This is found in studies of narcissistic personalities or borderline pathologies by authors such as Heinz Kohut or Otto Kernberg.

In conclusion, it can be said that although Freud uses the notion of withdrawal as the equivalent of narcissistic regression, in the contemporary [[literature ]] the term narcissistic withdrawal is instead reserved for an ego defense in pathological personalities.

# [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1914c). On narcissism: An introduction. SE, 14: 67-102.