Self Psychology Theory
Volume 2. Human Behavior in the Social Environment
Joseph Palombo,
Joseph Palombo
Institute for Clinical Social Work, Chicago, Illinois, US
Search for more papers by this authorJoseph Palombo,
Joseph Palombo
Institute for Clinical Social Work, Chicago, Illinois, US
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Heinz Kohut's work with narcissistic personality disorders led him to depart from the classical Freudian approaches to the treatment of these disorders and to formulate a clinical framework that eventually evolved into what is now know as Self Psychology. This framework places the self, i.e., the person, at the center of all clinical explanations. The self has its own ontological development that is characterized by the internalization of specific self-object functions. Psychopathology results from the failures to internalize these functions. During treatment, the patient replicates these failures while the analyst, through his or her empathic attunement, permits a transference to develop that may result in the repair of the deficits and the restoration of the sense of self-cohesion.
Heinz Kohut's Major Works
- Cocks, G. (Ed.). (1994). The curve of life: Correspondence of Heinz Kohut 1923–1981. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Elson, M. (Ed.). (1987). The Kohut seminars on self psychology and psychotherapy with adolescents and young adults. New York: Norton.
- Goldberg, A. (Ed., with H. Kohut). (1978). The psychology of the self: A casebook. New York: International Universities Press.
- Kohut, H. (1971). The analysis of the self. New York: International Universities Press.
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Kohut, H.
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University of Chicago Press.
10.7208/chicago/9780226006147.001.0001 Google Scholar
- Kohut, H. (1985). Self psychology and the humanities: Reflections on a new psychoanalytic approach. New York: Norton.
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- Ornstein, P. H. (Ed.). (1991). The search for the self: Selected writings of Heinz Kohut 1978–1981 (Vols. 1 & 2). New York: International Universities Press.
- Tolpin, P., & Tolpin, M. (Eds.). (1996). Heinz Kohut: The Chicago Institute lectures. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
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