What is the prevalence of narcissistic injury among trainee counselling psychologists?

Headnote

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the level of narcissistic injury among trainee counselling psychologists using the Narcissistic Injury Scale (Slyter, 1991). This 38-item Likert scale is based on Miller's (1981) definition of narcissistic injury; a specific type of psychological damage which focuses on feelings about the self and past relationships related to self-development. Theorists suggest that if untreated, narcissistic issues can interfere with client work and lead to a number of problems for trainees, influencing drop-out rates and increasing burnout. The results of the study indicate that a high degree of narcissistic injury may be prevalent among trainee counselling psychologists and furthermore, that narcissistic injury does seem to be related to the quality of the perceived parent-child relationship. Consequently, the study suggests that therapeutic work could be affected in those trainees who fail to address their own narcissism. The study provides some tentative support for the utility of the Narcissistic Injury Scale.

The term 'narcissism' was inspired by Ovid's myth of Narcissus in Metamorphoses (AD 8), in which a young Greek man falls in love with his reflection while gazing into a pool. Finding himself unable to unite with this loved object, Narcissus dies brokenhearted. Mollon (1993, p. 25) suggests that the themes of this myth include:

* A lack of self-knowledge

* A desire for reflection and mirroring

* The fear of being possessed and taken over

* A turning away from objects.

Freud (1914) described narcissism as a normal part of human sexual development rather than a perversion, seeing it as `the libidinal complement to the egoism of the instinct of self-preservation' (p. 66).

However, theorists argue that when normal infant narcissim is suppressed, damage to the individual's sense of self can arise. Miller (1981) argued in The Drama of Being a Child that the legend of Narcissus fully illustrates all the elements of the tragedy of narcissistic disturbance and viewed narcissim as a loss of a sense of self. This loss and the extent to which it is prevalent in trainee counselling psychologists are the research questions with which this study is concerned.

Definition of narcissism

Narcissism is an extremely complex phenomenon, which in everyday terms tends to describe positive feelings about the self. However, in terms...