Everyday Narcissists with Susan Schwartz

Are you a narcissist? How would you know? Or maybe you are in a relationship with one.

We talk to Jungian analyst Dr Susan Schwartz about dreams related to narcissism and about how to be in relationship with those everyday narcissists in our life.

Dr Schwartz starts by defining narcissism as outer bravado and inner fragility. She lists some of the typical dreams narcissists have including dreams of being trapped or in a prison.

We talk about the myth of Narcissus and Echo and about how we can avoid becoming Echo who loses herself in the relationship.

After the break we take a question from Steve about dreams in which we are not ourselves. Max adds that he is sometimes not even human in his dreams.

Susan ends by sharing a client’s dream in which the dreamer was married to Putin.

BIO: Susan E. Schwartz, Ph.D. trained in Zurich, Switzerland as a Jungian analyst. She has appeared on over a hundred podcasts and presentations and written many articles, chapters and books on Jungian analytical psychology. Her books are on fathers, imposter syndrome, narcissism, and the puella archetype, all published by Routledge.

Her latest book is called An Analytical Exploration of Love and Narcissism.

Find Susan at sedsphd.com

This show, episode number 341, was recorded during a live broadcast on December 13, 2025 at KSQD.org, community radio of Santa Cruz.

Show clip can be found here:

Intro and outro music by Mood Science. Ambient music new every week by Rick Kleffel. Archived music can be found at Pandemiad.com. Many thanks to Rick for also engineering the show and to Erik Nelson for answering the phones.

SHARE A DREAM FOR THE SHOW or a question or enquire about being a guest on the podcast by emailing Katherine Bell at katherine@ksqd.org. Follow on FB, IG, LI, & YT @ExperientialDreamwork #thedreamjournal. To learn more or to inquire about exploring your own dreams go to ExperientialDreamwork.com.

The Dream Journal aims to: Increase awareness of and appreciation for nightly dreams. Inspire dream sharing and other kinds of dream exploration as a way of adding depth and meaningfulness to lives and relationships. Improve society by the increased empathy, emotional balance, and sense of wonder which dream exploration invites.

A dream can be meaningful even if you don’t know what it means.

The Dream Journal is produced at and airs on KSQD Santa Cruz, 90.7 FM. Catch it streaming LIVE at KSQD.org 10-11am Pacific Time on Saturdays. Call or text with your dreams or questions at 831-900-5773 or email at onair@ksqd.org. Podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms the Monday following the live show. The complete KSQD Dream Journal podcast page can be found at ksqd.org/the-dream-journal/.

Closed captioning is available on the YouTube version of this podcast and an automatically generated transcript is available at Apple Podcasts within 24 hours of posting.

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