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<span>Major concepts</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Major_concepts-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Major concepts subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Major_concepts-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Self" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Self"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>Self</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Self-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Empathy" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Empathy"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>Empathy</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Empathy-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Selfobjects" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Selfobjects"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3</span> <span>Selfobjects</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Selfobjects-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Optimal_frustration" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Optimal_frustration"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4</span> <span>Optimal frustration</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Optimal_frustration-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Idealizing" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Idealizing"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5</span> <span>Idealizing</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Idealizing-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Alter_ego/twinship_needs" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Alter_ego/twinship_needs"> 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vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Criticism"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Criticism</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Criticism-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" 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mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%B1%D0%B5-%D0%BF%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1%8F" title="Себе-психология – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Себе-психология" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selbstpsychologie" title="Selbstpsychologie – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Selbstpsychologie" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_psychology" title="Self psychology – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Self psychology" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%9E%90%EA%B8%B0_%EC%8B%AC%EB%A6%AC%ED%95%99" title="자기 심리학 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="자기 심리학" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psicologia_del_S%C3%A9" title="Psicologia del Sé – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Psicologia del Sé" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A4%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%92%D7%99%D7%99%D7%AA_%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%A6%D7%9E%D7%99" title="פסיכולוגיית העצמי – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" 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.ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-Citation_style plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-style ambox-citation_style" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/40px-Edit-clear.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/60px-Edit-clear.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/80px-Edit-clear.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>has an unclear <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Citation_style" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">citation style</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of <a 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srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/60px-Edit-clear.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/80px-Edit-clear.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>is written like a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not#Wikipedia_is_not_a_publisher_of_original_thought" title="Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not">personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay</a></b> that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit">help improve it</a> by rewriting it in an <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Writing_better_articles#Information_style_and_tone" title="Wikipedia:Writing better articles">encyclopedic style</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">May 2013</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p><b>Self psychology</b>, a modern <a href="/wiki/Psychoanalytic_theory" title="Psychoanalytic theory">psychoanalytic theory</a> and its clinical applications, was conceived by <a href="/wiki/Heinz_Kohut" title="Heinz Kohut">Heinz Kohut</a> in Chicago in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, and is still developing as a contemporary form of psychoanalytic treatment. In self psychology, the effort is made to understand individuals from within their subjective experience via vicarious introspection, basing interpretations on the understanding of the self as the central agency of the human psyche.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Essential to understanding self psychology are the concepts of <a href="/wiki/Empathy" title="Empathy">empathy</a>, selfobject, <a href="/wiki/Mirroring_(psychology)" class="mw-redirect" title="Mirroring (psychology)">mirroring</a>, <a href="/wiki/Idealization_and_devaluation" title="Idealization and devaluation">idealising</a>, alter ego/twinship and the tripolar self. Though self psychology also recognizes certain drives, conflicts, and complexes present in Freudian <a href="/wiki/Psychodynamic_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Psychodynamic theory">psychodynamic theory</a>, these are understood within a different framework. Self psychology was seen as a major break from traditional psychoanalysis and is considered the beginnings of the relational approach to <a href="/wiki/Psychoanalysis" title="Psychoanalysis">psychoanalysis</a>. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Origins">Origins</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Origins"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl 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.plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-pretitle">Part of <a href="/wiki/Category:Psychoanalysis" title="Category:Psychoanalysis">a series of articles</a> on</td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle"><a href="/wiki/Psychoanalysis" title="Psychoanalysis">Psychoanalysis</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"><span class="notpageimage" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Freud%27s_couch,_London,_2004_(2).jpeg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Freud%27s_couch%2C_London%2C_2004_%282%29.jpeg/220px-Freud%27s_couch%2C_London%2C_2004_%282%29.jpeg" decoding="async" width="220" height="173" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Freud%27s_couch%2C_London%2C_2004_%282%29.jpeg/330px-Freud%27s_couch%2C_London%2C_2004_%282%29.jpeg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Freud%27s_couch%2C_London%2C_2004_%282%29.jpeg/440px-Freud%27s_couch%2C_London%2C_2004_%282%29.jpeg 2x" data-file-width="637" data-file-height="500" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Concepts</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Psychosexual_development" title="Psychosexual development">Psychosexual development</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erikson%27s_stages_of_psychosocial_development" title="Erikson's stages of psychosocial development">Psychosocial development (Erikson)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Unconscious_mind#Freud's_view" title="Unconscious mind">Unconscious</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Preconscious" title="Preconscious">Preconscious</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Consciousness" title="Consciousness">Consciousness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Psychic_apparatus" title="Psychic apparatus">Psychic apparatus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Id,_ego_and_superego" title="Id, ego and superego">Id, ego and superego</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Defence_mechanisms" class="mw-redirect" title="Defence mechanisms">Ego defenses</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Psychological_projection" title="Psychological projection">Projection</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Introjection" title="Introjection">Introjection</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Libido" title="Libido">Libido</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Drive_theory" title="Drive theory">Drive</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Transference" title="Transference">Transference</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Countertransference" title="Countertransference">Countertransference</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Resistance_(psychoanalysis)" title="Resistance (psychoanalysis)">Resistance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Denial_(Freud)" title="Denial (Freud)">Denial</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dreamwork" title="Dreamwork">Dreamwork</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cathexis" title="Cathexis">Cathexis</a></li></ul> </div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Important figures</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Karl_Abraham" title="Karl Abraham">Abraham</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alfred_Adler" title="Alfred Adler">Adler</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michael_Balint" title="Michael Balint">Balint</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wilfred_Bion" title="Wilfred Bion">Bion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Josef_Breuer" title="Josef Breuer">Breuer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nancy_Chodorow" title="Nancy Chodorow">Chodorow</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erik_Erikson" title="Erik Erikson">Erikson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ronald_Fairbairn" title="Ronald Fairbairn">Fairbairn</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/S%C3%A1ndor_Ferenczi" title="Sándor Ferenczi">Ferenczi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anna_Freud" title="Anna Freud">Freud (Anna)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sigmund_Freud" title="Sigmund Freud">Freud (Sigmund)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erich_Fromm" title="Erich Fromm">Fromm</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Guattari" title="Félix Guattari">Guattari</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karen_Horney" title="Karen Horney">Horney</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Luce_Irigaray" title="Luce Irigaray">Irigaray</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Edith_Jacobson" title="Edith Jacobson">Jacobson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ernest_Jones" title="Ernest Jones">Jones</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Carl_Jung" title="Carl Jung">Jung</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Heinz_Kohut" title="Heinz Kohut">Kohut</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Melanie_Klein" title="Melanie Klein">Klein</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Julia_Kristeva" title="Julia Kristeva">Kristeva</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jacques_Lacan" title="Jacques Lacan">Lacan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/R._D._Laing" title="R. D. Laing">Laing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jean_Laplanche" title="Jean Laplanche">Laplanche</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Margaret_Mahler" title="Margaret Mahler">Mahler</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Otto_Rank" title="Otto Rank">Rank</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich" title="Wilhelm Reich">Reich</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sabina_Spielrein" title="Sabina Spielrein">Spielrein</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wilhelm_Stekel" title="Wilhelm Stekel">Stekel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/James_Strachey" title="James Strachey">Strachey</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Harry_Stack_Sullivan" title="Harry Stack Sullivan">Sullivan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Donald_Winnicott" title="Donald Winnicott">Winnicott</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Slavoj_%C5%BDi%C5%BEek" title="Slavoj Žižek">Žižek</a></li></ul> </div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Important works</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><div class="plainlist"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Interpretation_of_Dreams" title="The Interpretation of Dreams">The Interpretation of Dreams</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1899)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Psychopathology_of_Everyday_Life" title="The Psychopathology of Everyday Life">The Psychopathology of Everyday Life</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1901)</span></li> <li><div style="display:inline-block; padding:0.2em 0.4em; line-height:1.2em;"><i><a href="/wiki/Three_Essays_on_the_Theory_of_Sexuality" title="Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality">Three Essays on the Theory<br />of Sexuality</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1905)</span></div></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Psychology_of_the_Unconscious" title="Psychology of the Unconscious">Psychology of the Unconscious</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1912)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Beyond_the_Pleasure_Principle" title="Beyond the Pleasure Principle">Beyond the Pleasure Principle</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1920)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Ego_and_the_Id" title="The Ego and the Id">The Ego and the Id</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1923)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Civilization_and_Its_Discontents" title="Civilization and Its Discontents">Civilization and Its Discontents</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1930)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Mass_Psychology_of_Fascism" title="The Mass Psychology of Fascism">The Mass Psychology of Fascism</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1933)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Four_Fundamental_Concepts_of_Psychoanalysis" title="The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis">The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1964)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Anti-Oedipus" title="Anti-Oedipus">Anti-Oedipus</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1972)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Sublime_Object_of_Ideology" title="The Sublime Object of Ideology">The Sublime Object of Ideology</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1989)</span></li></ul> </div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Schools of thought</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Individual_psychology" title="Individual psychology">Adlerian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ego_psychology" title="Ego psychology">Ego psychology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Analytical_psychology" title="Analytical psychology">Jungian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lacanianism" title="Lacanianism">Lacanian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interpersonal_psychoanalysis" title="Interpersonal psychoanalysis">Interpersonal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intersubjective_psychoanalysis" title="Intersubjective psychoanalysis">Intersubjective</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Freudo-Marxism" title="Freudo-Marxism">Marxist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Object_relations_theory" title="Object relations theory">Object relations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reichian_therapy" title="Reichian therapy">Reichian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Relational_psychoanalysis" title="Relational psychoanalysis">Relational</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Self psychology</a></li></ul> </div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Training</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><div class="plainlist"> <ul><li><div style="display:inline-block; padding:0.2em 0.4em; line-height:1.2em;"><a href="/wiki/Boston_Graduate_School_of_Psychoanalysis" title="Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis">Boston Graduate School of<br />Psychoanalysis</a></div></li> <li><a href="/wiki/British_Psychoanalytic_Council" title="British Psychoanalytic Council">British Psychoanalytic Council</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/British_Psychoanalytical_Society" title="British Psychoanalytical Society">British Psychoanalytical Society</a></li> <li><div style="display:inline-block; padding:0.2em 0.4em; line-height:1.2em;"><a href="/wiki/Columbia_University_Center_for_Psychoanalytic_Training_and_Research" title="Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research">Columbia University Center for<br />Psychoanalytic Training and Research</a></div></li> <li><a href="/wiki/International_Psychoanalytical_Association" title="International Psychoanalytical Association">International Psychoanalytical Association</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/World_Association_of_Psychoanalysis" title="World Association of Psychoanalysis">World Association of Psychoanalysis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_schools_of_psychoanalysis" title="List of schools of psychoanalysis">List of schools of psychoanalysis</a></li></ul> </div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">See also</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Child_psychoanalysis" title="Child psychoanalysis">Child psychoanalysis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Depth_psychology" title="Depth psychology">Depth psychology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Psychodynamics" title="Psychodynamics">Psychodynamics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Psychoanalytic_theory" title="Psychoanalytic theory">Psychoanalytic theory</a></li></ul> </div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-below hlist"> <ul><li><span class="nowrap"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Psi2.svg/16px-Psi2.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Psi2.svg/24px-Psi2.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Psi2.svg/32px-Psi2.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="100" data-file-height="100" /></span></span> </span><a href="/wiki/Portal:Psychology" title="Portal:Psychology">Psychology portal</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Psychoanalysis" title="Template:Psychoanalysis"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Psychoanalysis" title="Template talk:Psychoanalysis"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Psychoanalysis" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Psychoanalysis"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Kohut came to psychoanalysis by way of neurology and psychiatry in the 1940s, and then 'embraced analysis with the fervor of a convert ... [and as] "Mr Psychoanalysis" '<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> took on an idealizing image of Freud and his theories. Subsequently, "in a burst of creativity that began in the mid-1960s ... Kohut found his voice and explored narcissism in new ways that led to what he ended up calling a 'psychology of the self'".<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Major_concepts">Major concepts</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Major concepts"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Self">Self</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Self"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Kohut explained, in 1977, that in all he wrote on the psychology of the self, he purposely did not define the self. He explained his reasoning this way: "The self...is, like all reality...not knowable in its essence...We can describe the various cohesive forms in which the self appears, can demonstrate the several constituents that make up the self ... and explain their genesis and functions. We can do all that but we will still not know the essence of the self as differentiated from its manifestations.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Empathy">Empathy</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Empathy"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Kohut maintained that parents' failures to empathize with their children and the responses of their children to these failures were 'at the root of almost all psychopathology'.<sup id="cite_ref-TextbookPsychoanalysis_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-TextbookPsychoanalysis-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> For Kohut, the loss of the other and the other's self-object ("selfobject") function (see below) leaves the individual apathetic, lethargic, empty of the feeling of life, and without vitality – in short, depressed.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The infant moving from grandiose to cohesive self and beyond must go through the slow process of disillusionment with <a href="/wiki/Object_relations_theory#Unconscious_phantasy" title="Object relations theory">phantasies</a> of omnipotence, mediated by the parents: 'This process of gradual and titrated disenchantment requires that the infant's caretakers be empathetically attuned to the infant's needs'.<sup id="cite_ref-Brinich,_Self_p._46_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Brinich,_Self_p._46-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Correspondingly, to help a patient deal in therapy with earlier failures in the disenchantment process, Kohut the therapist 'highlights <i>empathy</i> as the tool <i>par excellence</i>, which allows the creation of a <a href="/wiki/Therapeutic_relationship" title="Therapeutic relationship">relationship between patient and analyst</a> that can offer some hope of mitigating early self pathology'.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In comparison to earlier psychoanalytic approaches, the use of empathy, which Kohut called "<a href="/wiki/Vicariousness" title="Vicariousness">vicarious</a> introspection", allows the therapist to reach conclusions sooner (with less dialogue and interpretation), and to create a stronger bond with the patient, making the patient feel more fundamentally understood. For Kohut, the implicit bond of empathy itself has a curative effect, but he also warned that 'the psychoanalyst ... must also be able to relinquish the empathic attitude' to maintain intellectual integrity, and that 'empathy, especially when it is surrounded by an attitude of wanting to cure <i>directly</i> ... may rest on the therapist's unresolved omnipotence fantasies'.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>) </p><p>The conceptual introduction of empathy was not intended to be a "discovery." Empathic moments in psychology existed long before Kohut. Instead, Kohut posited that empathy in psychology should be acknowledged as a powerful therapeutic tool, extending beyond "hunches" and vague "assumptions," and enabling empathy to be described, taught, and used more actively. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Selfobjects">Selfobjects</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Selfobjects"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Self Objects are external objects when young. Over time the child learns to regulate her internal world through internalized self objects - think Bowen's differentiation, the person no longer needs the external object to regulate their inner world. We mature to Winnicott's object use. To be dependent on an external object in adulthood is explored in the world of codependency and the formation of fascism. The internal self objects and the healthy use of external objects function as part of the "self machinery".<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> They are persons, objects or activities that "complete" the self, and which are necessary for normal functioning. 'Kohut describes early interactions between the infant and his caretakers as involving the infant's "self" and the infant's "selfobjects"'.<sup id="cite_ref-Brinich,_Self_p._46_7-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Brinich,_Self_p._46-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Observing the patient's selfobject connections is a fundamental part of self psychology. For instance, a person's particular habits, choice of education and work, taste in life partners, may fulfill a selfobject-function for that particular individual. </p><p>Selfobjects are addressed throughout Kohut's theory, and include everything from the <a href="/wiki/Transference" title="Transference">transference</a> phenomenon in therapy, relatives, and items (for instance <a href="/wiki/Linus_van_Pelt" class="mw-redirect" title="Linus van Pelt">Linus van Pelt</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Security_blanket" class="mw-redirect" title="Security blanket">security blanket</a>): they 'thus cover the phenomena which were described by <a href="/wiki/Donald_Winnicott" title="Donald Winnicott">Winnicott</a><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> as <a href="/wiki/Transitional_objects" class="mw-redirect" title="Transitional objects">transitional objects</a>. Among 'the great variety of selfobject relations that support the cohesion, vigor, and harmony of the adult self ... [are] cultural selfobjects (the writers, artists, and political leaders of the group – the nation, for example – to which a person feels he belongs)'.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>If psychopathology is explained as an "incomplete" or "defect" self, then the self-objects might be described as a self-prescribed "cure". </p><p>As described by Kohut, the selfobject-function (i.e. what the selfobject does for the self) is taken for granted and seems to take place in a "blindzone". The function thus usually does not become "visible" until the relation with the selfobject is somehow broken. </p><p>When a relationship is established with a new selfobject, the relationship connection can "lock in place" quite powerfully, and the pull of the connection may affect both self and selfobject. Powerful transference, for instance, is an example of this phenomenon. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Optimal_frustration">Optimal frustration</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Optimal frustration"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>When a selfobject is needed, but not accessible, this will create a potential problem for the self, referred to as a "frustration" – as with 'the traumatic frustration of the phase appropriate wish or need for parental acceptance ... intense narcissistic frustration'.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The contrast is what Kohut called "optimal frustration"; and he considered that, 'as holds true for the analogous later milieu of the child, the most important aspect of the earliest mother-infant relationship is the principle of optimal frustration. Tolerable disappointments ... lead to the establishment of internal structures which provide the basis for self-soothing.'<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In a parallel way, Kohut considered that the 'skilful analyst will ... conduct the analysis according to the principle of optimal frustration'.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Suboptimal frustrations, and maladaptations following them, may be compared to <a href="/wiki/Sigmund_Freud" title="Sigmund Freud">Freud</a>'s trauma concept, or to problem solution in the <a href="/wiki/Oedipus_complex" title="Oedipus complex">oedipal</a> phase. However, the scope of optimal (or other) frustration describes shaping every "nook and cranny" of the self, rather than a few dramatic conflicts. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Idealizing">Idealizing</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Idealizing"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Kohut saw idealizing as a central aspect of early narcissism. 'The therapeutic activation of the omnipotent object (the idealized parent image) ... referred to as the <i>idealizing transference</i>, is the revival during psychoanalysis'<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> of the very early need to establish a mutual selfobject connection with an object of idealization. </p><p>In terms of 'the <a href="/wiki/Melanie_Klein" title="Melanie Klein">Kleinian</a> school ... the idealizing transference may cover some of the territory of so-called <a href="/wiki/Projective_identification" title="Projective identification">projective identification</a>'.<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>For the young child, ' <i>idealized</i> selfobjects "provide the experience of merger with the calm, power, wisdom, and goodness of idealized persons"'.<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Alter_ego/twinship_needs"><span id="Alter_ego.2Ftwinship_needs"></span>Alter ego/twinship needs</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Alter ego/twinship needs"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Alter_ego" title="Alter ego">Alter ego</a>/<a href="/w/index.php?title=Twinship&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Twinship (page does not exist)">twinship</a> needs refer to the desire in early development to feel alikeness to other human beings.<sup id="cite_ref-TextbookPsychoanalysis_5-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-TextbookPsychoanalysis-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Freud had early noted that 'The idea of the "double" ... sprung from the soil of unbounded self-love, from the <a href="/wiki/Primary_narcissism" class="mw-redirect" title="Primary narcissism">primary narcissism</a> which holds sway in the mind of the child.'<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Lacan highlighted 'the <i><a href="/wiki/Mirror_stage" title="Mirror stage">mirror stage</a></i> ... of a normal transitivism. The child who strikes another says that he has been struck; the child who sees another fall, cries.'<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In 1960, '<a href="/wiki/Jacob_Arlow" title="Jacob Arlow">Arlow</a> observed, "The existence of another individual who is a reflection of the self brings the experience of twinship in line with the psychology of the double, of the mirror image and of the double".'<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Kohut pointed out that 'fantasies, referring to a relationship with such an alter ego or twin (or conscious wishes for such a relationship) are frequently encountered in the analysis of narcissistic personalities', and termed their transference activation 'the alter-ego transference or the twinship'.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>As development continues, so a greater degree of difference from others can be accepted.<sup id="cite_ref-TextbookPsychoanalysis_5-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-TextbookPsychoanalysis-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_tripolar_self">The tripolar self</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: The tripolar self"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The tripolar self is not associated with bipolar disorder, but is the sum of the three "poles" of the body:<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ul><li>"grandiose-exhibitionistic needs"</li> <li>"the need for an omnipotent idealized figure"</li> <li>"alter-ego needs"</li></ul> <p>Kohut argued that 'reactivation of the grandiose self in analysis occurs in three forms: these relate to specific stages of development ... (1) The archaic <i>merger through the extension of the grandiose self</i>; (2) a less archaic form which will be called <i>alter-ego transference</i> or <i>twinship</i>; and (3) a still less archaic form ... <i>mirror transference</i><span class="nowrap" style="padding-left:0.1em;">'</span>.<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Alternately, self psychologists 'divide the selfobject transference into three groups: (1) those in which the damaged pole of ambitions attempts to elicit the confirming-approving response of the selfobject (mirror transference); (2) those in which the damaged pole of ideals searches for a selfobject that will accept its idealisation (idealising transference); and those in which the damaged intermediate area of talents and skills seeks ... alter ego transference.'<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The tripolar self forms as a result of the needs of an individual binding with the interactions of other significant persons within the life of that individual. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Cultural_implications">Cultural implications</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Cultural implications"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>An interesting application of self psychology has been in the interpretation of the friendship of Freud and Jung, its breakdown, and its aftermath. It has been suggested that at the height of the relationship 'Freud was in <i>narcissistic transference</i>, that he saw in Jung an idealised version of himself',<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and that conversely in Jung there was a double mix of 'idealization of Freud and grandiosity in the self'.<sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>During Jung's midlife crisis, after his break with Freud, arguably 'the focus of the critical years had to be a struggle with narcissism: the loss of an idealized other, grandiosity in the sphere of the self, and resulting periods of narcissistic rage'.<sup id="cite_ref-Homans,_Context_p._75_28-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Homans,_Context_p._75-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Only as he worked through to 'a new sense of himself as a person separate from Freud'<sup id="cite_ref-Homans,_Context_p._75_28-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Homans,_Context_p._75-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> could Jung emerge as an independent theorist in his own right. </p><p>On the assumption that 'the western self is embedded in a <a href="/wiki/The_Culture_of_Narcissism" title="The Culture of Narcissism">culture of narcissism</a> ... implicated in the shift towards postmodernity',<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> opportunities for making such applications will probably not decrease in the foreseeable future. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Criticism">Criticism</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Criticism"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Kohut, who was 'the center of a fervid cult in Chicago',<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> aroused at times almost equally fervent criticism and opposition, emanating from at least three other directions: <a href="/wiki/Drive_theory" title="Drive theory">drive theory</a>, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and <a href="/wiki/Object_relations_theory" title="Object relations theory">object relations theory</a>. </p><p>From the perspective of drive theory, Kohut appears 'as an important contributor to analytic technique and as a misguided theoretician ... introduces assumptions that simply clutter up basic theory. The more postulates you make, the less their explanatory power becomes.'<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-31"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>31<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Offering no technical advances on standard analytic methods in 'his breathtakingly unreadable <i>The Analysis of the Self</i><span class="nowrap" style="padding-left:0.1em;">'</span>, Kohut simply seems to blame parental deficit for all childhood difficulties, disregarding the inherent conflicts of the drives: 'Where the orthodox Freudian sees sex everywhere, the Kohutian sees unempathic mothers everywhere – even in sex.'<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-32"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>32<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>To the <a href="/wiki/Lacanian" class="mw-redirect" title="Lacanian">Lacanian</a>, Kohut's exclusive 'concern with <a href="/wiki/The_Imaginary_(psychoanalysis)" title="The Imaginary (psychoanalysis)">the imaginary</a>', to the exclusion of <a href="/wiki/The_Symbolic" title="The Symbolic">the Symbolic</a> meant that 'not only the patient's narcissism is in question here, but also the analyst's narcissism.'<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-33"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>33<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The danger in 'the concept of the sympathetic or empathic analyst who is led astray towards an ideal of devotion and samaritan helping ... [ignoring] its sadistic underpinnings'<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-34"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>34<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> seemed only too clear. </p><p>From an object relations perspective, Kohut 'allows no place for internal determinants. The predicate is that a person's psychopathology is due to unattuned selfobjects, so all the bad is out there and we have a theory with a paranoid basis.'<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-35"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>35<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> At the same time, 'any attempt at "being the better parent" has the effect of deflecting, even seducing, a patient from using the analyst or therapist in a <a href="/wiki/Negative_transference" title="Negative transference">negative transference</a> ... the empathic analyst, or "better" parent'.<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-36"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>36<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>With the passage of time, and the eclipse of <a href="/wiki/Metanarrative" title="Metanarrative">grand narrative</a>, it may now be possible to see the several strands of psychoanalytic theory less as fierce rivals and more 'as complementary partners. Drive psychology, ego psychology, object relations psychology and self psychology each have important insights to offer twenty-first-century clinicians.'<sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-37"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>37<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Metacognition" title="Metacognition">Metacognition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/True_self_and_false_self#Kohut" title="True self and false self">True self and false self: Kohut</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self_psychology&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-columns references-column-width reflist-columns-2"> <ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFGrossman" class="citation web cs1">Grossman, Martin. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.selfpsychology.com/whatis/gossmannwolf.htm">"What Is Self Psychology?"</a>. <i>www.selfpsychology.com</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2015-01-03</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=www.selfpsychology.com&rft.atitle=What+Is+Self+Psychology%3F&rft.aulast=Grossman&rft.aufirst=Martin&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.selfpsychology.com%2Fwhatis%2Fgossmannwolf.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASelf+psychology" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Charles B. Strozier (2001)<i>Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst</i> Preface.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Strozier (2001),)<i>Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst</i> Preface.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSiegel1996" class="citation book cs1">Siegel, Allen (1996). <i>Heinz Kohut and the psychology of the self</i> (1st ed.). New York: Routledge. p. 140. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0415086387" title="Special:BookSources/978-0415086387"><bdi>978-0415086387</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Heinz+Kohut+and+the+psychology+of+the+self.&rft.place=New+York&rft.pages=140&rft.edition=1st&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=1996&rft.isbn=978-0415086387&rft.aulast=Siegel&rft.aufirst=Allen&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASelf+psychology" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-TextbookPsychoanalysis-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-TextbookPsychoanalysis_5-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-TextbookPsychoanalysis_5-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-TextbookPsychoanalysis_5-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Nersessian, Edward & Kopff, Richard. <i>Textbook of Psychoanalysis</i>. 1996. American Psychiatric Association.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Lou Agosta (2010), <i>Empathy in the Context of Philosophy</i> London: Palgrave Macmillan p. 68.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Brinich,_Self_p._46-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Brinich,_Self_p._46_7-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Brinich,_Self_p._46_7-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Brinich, <i>Self</i> p. 46.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Brinich, <i>Self</i> p. 48.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. Kohut (1971), The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities p. 303 and p. 307.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">(Rev. Dr. Gregory Wilson)The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities Pressp. 3.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Kohut, <i>Analysis</i> p. 33n.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. Kohut (1971), The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities Press p. 220n.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. Kohut (1971), The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities p. 197 and p. 139.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. Kohut (1971), The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities p. 64.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. Kohut (1971), The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities p. 199.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. Kohut (1971), The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities Press p. 37.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. Kohut (1971), The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities Press p. 213.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">B. E. Moore and B. D. Fine, in Brinich, <i>Self</i> p. 47.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Sigmund Freud, "The Uncanny" in <i>Studies in Parapsychology</i> p. 41.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Jacques Lacan, <i>Ecrits: A Selection</i> (London 1996) p. 18–19.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Maynard Solomon, <i>Beethoven Essays</i> (London 1988) p. 87–88.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. Kohut (1971), The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities Press p. 115.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-23">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. Kohut, (1984) <i>How Does Analysis Cure</i>. Chicago: University of Chicago Press p. 192.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. Kohut (1971), The Analysis of the Self. New York: International Universities Press p. 114.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Kohut, <i>How Does Analysis Cure</i> p. 192–193.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-26">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Frank McLynn, <i>Carl Gustav Jung</i> (London 1996) p. 157.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-27">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">PeterHomans, <i>Jung in Context</i> (London 1979) p. 57.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Homans,_Context_p._75-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Homans,_Context_p._75_28-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Homans,_Context_p._75_28-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Homans, <i>Context</i> p. 75.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-29">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Brinich, <i>Self</i> p. 12 and p. 14.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-30">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Malcolm, <i>Impossible</i> p. 4.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-31"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-31">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"Aaron Green" in Malcolm, <i>Impossible</i> p. 117–118.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-32"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-32">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Malcolm, <i>Impossible</i> p. 136.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-33"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-33">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="/wiki/Moustafa_Safouan" title="Moustafa Safouan">Moustafa Safouan</a>, in Stuart Schneiderman ed., <i>Returning to Freud</i> (New York 1980 p. 162–163.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-34"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-34">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Safouan, p. 163.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-35"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-35">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Symington, <i>Narcissism</i> p. 108.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-36"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-36">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Patrick Casement, <i>Further Learning from the Patient</i> (London 1997) p. 81 and p. 104.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-37"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-37">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Brinich, <i>Self</i> p. 52.</span> </li> </ol></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; 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