Dominique Barbier studied at the Lyon School of Psychiatry and Criminology and is currently a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in Avignon. A former expert at the Court of Appeal of Nîmes, he was the first to coordinate the socio-judicial follow-up for sex offenders in Vaucluse. He graduated from the Ecole Freudienne de Paris and, as such, is a member of the International Lacanian Association.

Narcissism is a necessary part of personality development. It is a key stage when children become aware of themselves as a whole. But what similarities can be found between “normal” narcissism, that of someone building their identity, and adult narcissism, that of someone who is obsessed by their image and for whom others don’t exist? When does narcissism become a disorder? Where do the object libido and ego libido fit in? Is there life narcissism and death narcissism? What are the links with psychosis?
Drawing on Lacan’s insights and his mirror stage concept, psychiatrist Dominique Barbier aims to shed light on a notion that Freud himself struggled to identify and define. He also questions our consumer society, which encourages impulsiveness and impatience, as it creates more and more spoilt children and narcissists. Could today’s society, which has become excessively narcissistic, be slipping into an ordinary form of psychosis?