[Narcissistic guilt feelings in stagnating grief].

Three cases of inhibited mourning processes are presented to give evidence for a special kind of guilt feelings that indicate a disturbance in the development of the feeling of self-worth. Those guilt feelings derive from 1. that the death of the mother--respectively of the spouse--has not been prevented by the patient by proper care, and 2. that the deceased has been deserted by the patient while dying. These ideas are based on the unconsious grandiose ideas 1. that the patient had had the power to prevent death from taking place, and 2. that the patient still be in a physical-concrete unit with the deceased. The feelings that led to these ideas were defenses against deep seated feelings of impotence and separation anxiety. The realization and working through of feelings of impotence/omnipotence and of nothingness as well as of the history of these feelings enabled the mourning processes to occur, and to proceed with the psychotherapeutic work.