Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation (Classic Edition)
Book Announcement by Daniel Shaw (USA)
Shaw, D. (2025). Traumatic narcissism: Relational systems of subjugation – Classic Edition. Routledge.
In the original edition of Traumatic narcissism: Relational systems of subjugation (Routledge, 2014), Daniel Shaw introduced a new way of understanding how victims become trapped and subjugated by the abuser whom Shaw calls “the traumatizing narcissist.” In the many clinical vignettes throughout the book, Shaw illustrates the traumatizing narcissist’s controlling, subjugating behavior, and the shattering impact the traumatizing narcissist has on the people he draws in and holds captive. Shaw explains how therapists can use the traumatic narcissism theory to help victims recognize the specific ways they have been manipulated and controlled.
Shaw has written a new introduction for this Routledge “Classic Edition” in which he offers new insights from his extensive work with these victims and elaborates on the traumatizing narcissist’s “delusion of omnipotence,” a crucial key to understanding his behavior and what drives it. Additionally, Shaw presents a list of eight characteristic controlling behaviors that support and defend this delusion of omnipotence. Learning to recognize these behaviors will help therapists and patients identify the traumatizing narcissist and understand how each behavior serves to further deepen his victims’ submission and subjugation.
Daniel Shaw, LCSW, is a psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City and Nyack, NY. Faculty, Clinical Supervisor, National Institute for the Psychotherapies, NYC. Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation, published in 2014 for the Relational Perspectives Series by Routledge, was nominated for the distinguished Gradiva Award. His follow-up book, Traumatic Narcissism and Recovery: Leaving the Prison of Shame and Fear, was published by Routledge in 2022. In 2018, the International Cultic Studies Association awarded him the Margaret Thaler Singer Award for advancing the understanding of coercive persuasion and undue influence.
Daniel Shaw, LCSW
New York, NY, USA
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