Panel Presentation:
• The Psychodynamics of Closet Narcissism in the Case of Mrs. Erik Erikson: How She Affected Erik Erikson’s Work Success, Despite Some Personal Failure
Panelists: Susan Kavaler-Adler and Sue Erikson Bloland
(120 min)

Abstract:

This panel will consist of two presenters: Dr. Susan Kavaler-Adler and Sue Erikson Bloland, Erik Erikson’s daughter. The theme of this panel is how a psychological understanding of closet narcissism in relation to grandiose narcissism can be applied to the highly driven and powerful success of Erik Erikson, who is most notably remembered for his innovative book, Childhood and Society (Erikson, 1950), which moved toward a psychosocial understanding of development across the lifespan.

The first presentation, by Dr. Kavaler-Adler, will focus on closet narcissism in the theories of James Masterson, Kavaler-Adler, and others. The second presentation, by Sue Erikson Bloland, will focus on the role of her mother, Joan Erikson, as an essential support system and facilitator in the writing, publication and promulgation of Erikson’s ideas, who was herself driven by an intense need to achieve fame. The downside of parental fusion in closet narcissism and narcissistic dynamics will also be acknowledged, particularly in terms of Erikson’s personal difficulties as a father.

Keywords: closet narcissism, Erikson, family dynamics, grandiose narcissism, object relations, parental fusion, psychobiography, psychohistory

Short Bios:

Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, D.Litt., NCPsyA, is the panel organizer. Dr. Kavaler-Adler is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst who founded the Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis (ORI) in 1991 and has served continuously as its Executive Director. She is a Fellow of the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis, a Training Analyst, Senior Supervisor, active faculty member, and President of the Board of ORI. She is the author of seven published books and more than 70 articles, and has won 16 awards for her writings, including a Gradiva® Award for her 2003 Routledge book, Mourning, Spirituality and Psychic Change: A New Object Relations View of Psychoanalysis. Her other books include The Compulsion to Create: Women Writers and Their Demon Lovers (Routledge, 1993; ORI Academic Press, 2013); The Creative Mystique: From Red Shoes Frenzy to Love and Creativity (Routledge, 1996; ORI Academic Press, 2014); The Anatomy of Regret: From Death Instinct to Reparation and Symbolization Through Vivid Clinical Cases (Karnac/Routledge, 2013); The Klein-Winnicott Dialectic: Transformative New Metapsychology and Interactive Clinical Theory (Routledge/Karnac, 2014); Developmental Mourning, Erotic Transference, and Object Relations Psychoanalysis (IPBooks, 2022); and Saturday Nights at Lafayette Grill: True Tales & Gossips of NY City Argentine Tango Scene (Mindmend Publishing, 2016). One notable article is “Mourning and Erotic Transference” (The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1992). She can be reached at .

Sue Erikson Bloland, LCSW, is a psychoanalyst in private practice. She is a graduate of the   Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis, where she has taught and continues to supervise. She has published articles in Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, and the Atlantic Monthly. Her memoir, In the Shadow of Fame: A Memoir by the Daughter of Erik H. Erikson (Viking, 2005), will be republished by Routledge as a Classic Edition in 2026. She can be reached by email: .