Mysticism, motherhood, and pathological narcissism? A Kohutian analysis of Marie de l'Incarnation.

The following paper makes use of Kohutian self-psychology as a hermeneutic for interpreting Marie de l'Incarnation and her perplexing decision to abandon her young son Claude in favor of religious life. The author argues that filtered through the lens of Kohutian self-psychology, Marie de l'Incarnation emerges as a pathological narcissist and the decision to abandon Claude symptomatic of a narcissistic grandiosity.