Upcoming Events
SIP Online Seminar with Louise Hird - August 2026
Turning Toward the Life-Giver
This paper draws on Neville Symington to reframe narcissism as a turning away from truth and relatedness.
Neville Symington’s theory reframes narcissism not only as a developmental or structural issue but as a fundamental turning away from truth and relatedness. Symington’s concept of the Life-giver emphasizes the capacity to create meaning, engage emotionally, and live authentically.
The Life-giver represents the source of imaginative meaning-making in the psyche. When the Life-giver is silent, the individual is left dependent on the rigidity of the narcissistic structure, unable to generate authentic meaning. Symington suggests that the work of the analyst, the therapeutic action, involves restoring contact with the Life-giver through the analyst’s own internal act of freedom and refusing to submit to the omnipotent illusion even in the midst of powerful narcissistic pulls in the transference.
Details
When: Saturday 8th August 9.30am - 11.15am AEST
Where: Online via Zoom
Cost: $88.00 inc. GST