"The Beheaded Goddess: Daughters of Narcissistic Fathers" is an archetypal, mythological, and transferential analysis of the loss of healthy aggression in an adolescent daughter. The specific family researched consists of a narcissistic father, an emotionally unavailable mother, and an adolescent daughter. Paternal narcissism consists of entitlement, grandiosity, and a lack of empathy. Its characterological defensive structure wavers between insecure poles of inflation and deflation in the father, and simultaneous elevation and devaluation of the daughter. The emotionally unavailable mother's mind is disavowed, and her power given over to enthrone the male. Involuntarily participating in the abuse, she acts in accordance with the paternal myth believing men superior to women.
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