Psychoanalytic Paradigms And Their Narcissistic Investment

Abstract

The irrational elements in paradigm evolution, propagation, and competition have been explored. A central premise is that the narcissistic investment of a paradigm is an important contribution to the irrational process of paradigm evolution. Kuhn's (1962, 1970) ideas are summarized. An extrapolation and application of his ideas to the history of the evolution of psychoanalytic paradigms is attempted.