Title: The Self in the Absence of Recognition: An Existential Inquiry into Care, Power and the Legacy of Narcissistic Parenting – Tatiana Zegrean – 8th December 2026 @7-9pm uk on zoom

The Self in the Absence of Recognition: An Existential Inquiry into Care, Power and the Legacy of Narcissistic Parenting.

Tatiana Zegrean

This presentation explores parental narcissistic abuse through the existential concepts of recognition, care and power. While parenting is commonly associated with care, the experience of care can become complicated when the child’s needs, feelings and emerging sense of self are subordinated to the needs of the parent. Drawing on existential thought, the presentation considers what happens when the child is not fully recognised as a separate person with their own experience, wishes and possibilities.

Particular attention is given to the ways in which power may operate through subtle relational processes rather than overt domination alone. Within narcissistic parent–child relationships, parental needs may come to shape these dynamics, influencing how the child experiences themselves and their relationships with others and the world.

Situated within a phenomenological and existential framework, the presentation brings attention to experiences that often remain hidden, minimised or difficult to speak about within families and wider society. It considers how these relational dynamics may continue to influence selfhood long after childhood, including a person’s capacity to trust their own experience, become aware of their own wishes and choices, and develop their own sense of what matters.

This opens a further question of what it may mean to learn to live a life that feels more fully one’s own and to recognise new possibilities for being.

Tatiana Zegrean is a doctoral candidate in Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy at the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling/Middlesex University. She holds degrees in education and psychology and has over thirty years of experience working with young people and adults across educational and care settings.

Her academic and clinical interests lie at the intersection of existential psychotherapy, selfhood, meaning-making and relational experience. Her current doctoral research explores selfhood following parental narcissistic abuse, with particular attention to how individuals experience and make sense of who they are in its aftermath.

Tatiana is a published author in the fields of psychology, counselling and psychotherapy. Her work is informed by a commitment to phenomenological inquiry and to understanding human experience, as well as by her clinical work with clients and the questions that emerge through therapeutic practice

Bookings close at midnight 0n the 6th of December. Zoom links will be sent 24 hours before the event.

A certificate of attendance will be provided to attendees upon request by writing to

events@existentialanalysis.org.uk

If you would like to propose an event please get in touch.