Testing Heinz Kohut's thoughts on narcissism and narcissistic rage: narcissistic injury paves the way for radicalization and subclinical paranoid states - an experimental study

According to psychoanalytic self-psychological theory, narcissistic injuries may induce radical intentions, and subclinical paranoid states via self-psychological mechanisms. The testing took place in a narcissistic-injuring situation in Germany, where a reform of psychotherapy-training was implemented with only brief period of transition for those aiming to become psychotherapists after graduating. Within a randomized controlled-experimental design, 100 psychology-students were to read information about short transition-periods for them (affectedness-by-the-reform-condition) vs. for education-students (no-affectedness-by-the-reform-condition). After reading a radicalization-prompt, discussing in a 30-minute-group-discussion, participants in both conditions completed dependent measures of separatist identification, negative affects, overconfidence, radical intentions and subclinical paranoid states. Compared to the control condition (n = 49), psychologists in the experimental-condition (n = 51) stronger experienced narcissistic injury (d between 0.79 and 1.01; manipulation-check). They experienced a stronger alloyance with an archaic-omnipotent object (d = 0.52), exhibited more negative affects (d = 0.46), claimed overconfidence (d = 0.50), more radical intentions (d = 0.52), and subclinical paranoid states (d = 0.43). Our study supports Kohut's idea that antisocial as well as paranoid states are responses to narcissistic injuries mediated by the alloyance with an archaic-omnipotent object, negative affects and overconfidence.