Psychotherapy Promotes Narcissism

The core of Freud’s theory and therapy are both fundamentally narcissistic in assuming that one’s happiness is the greatest good.  This was clearly described in 1956 by Alfred Kazin, who wrote, “The overwhelming success of Freudianism in America lies in the general insistence on individual fulfillment, satisfaction and happiness. . . .  The insistence on personal happiness represents the most revolutionary force in modern times.”

The narcissism inherent in Freudian theory and therapy is equally applicable to many of its psychotherapeutic offshoots.  FromAdlerian psychotherapy to Zaraleya psychoenergetic technique, the main ingredient in the alphabet soup of American psychotherapies is “Me.” . . . 

Indeed, the focus of virtually all psychotherapy systems, many of which come and go in America like cerebral fall fashions, is not some higher ideal, not one’s fellow man, but merely oneself.

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., "Freudian Fraud: the Malignant Effect of Freud's Theory on American Thought and Culture," p.247-248