Self psychology is a modern psychoanalytic theory and clinical approach developed by Heinz Kohut from the 1960s through the 1980s. While classical Freudian psychoanalysis focused on innate biological drives and conflicts within the unconscious, self psychology focuses on the subjective experience of the "self" and the fundamental need to maintain a stable sense of self. Self psychology views psychological suffering as rooted in a weak or underdeveloped self, caused by (among other things) a lack of empathy and receptiveness in childhood caregivers. Central to self psychology is the concept of the selfobject, which refers to another person or experience that serves the function of maintaining a stable and cohesive sense of self. Kohut's work revolves around three major selfobject relationships:
Mirroring, where the individual looks for affirmation and recognition from others. Idealization, where the individual relies on an admired other for a sense of strength and stability. Twinship (or alter ego), where the individual seeks a sense of similarity and belonging with others. For example, when a child is praised by their parent for doing well in school, their need for mirroring is met; when a child turns to a parent for safety when they are scared, their need for idealization is met. In early childhood, the primary selfobjects are parents and caregivers; later in life teachers, friends, romantic partners, therapists, and social groups may serve this role. Selfobjects are not limited to people, as art, science, and religion serve as cultural selfobjects. In terms of clinical practice, self psychology centers the therapist's use of empathy. Defined by Kohut as "vicarious introspection", empathy is the process of feeling and thinking oneself into another person's subjective experience in order to gain access to the patient's private inner world. Kohut asserted that, unlike the physical sciences which rely on objective external observation, psychoanalysis required accessing a patient's private subjective experience through the use of empathy. Empathy also serves as a powerful mirroring selfobject experience, which can help the patient raise their self-esteem and restore cohesion to a fragmented or injured self. Because of its emphasis on empathy, subjective experience, and the therapeutic power of being understood, some authors have argued self psychology shares more in common with Carl Rogers' person-centered therapy than classical psychoanalysis.
Origins
Self psychology originated in the 1960s and 1970s through the clinical work of Heinz Kohut. Originally born in Austria, Kohut fled to the United States in 1940 and began working as a psychoanalyst with the Chicago Institute in 1950. Kohut's first work on self psychology, The Analysis of the Self, was published in 1971 as a result of his work with patients with narcissistic personality disorder. While traditional psychoanalysis held to the idea of drive-conflict (the idea that patients suffer due to conflicts with sexual and aggressive instincts), Kohut felt this failed to explain the experiences of narcissistic patients. By utilizing empathy in his practice, Kohut noticed these patients were not suffering from drive conflict, but rather from profound injuries to their core sense of self: in other words, patients suffered because of disturbances in self-esteem, grandiosity, shame, fragmentation of the self, and a dependence on admired figures. Kohut's second work, The Restoration of the Self (1977), expanded self psychology from a specific theory of narcissism into a general theory of human psychology. Breaking from classical psychoanalysis, Kohut asserted that human beings are fundamentally organized around the need to develop and maintain a cohesive and stable sense of self. Mental illness symptoms are largely attempts to repair, protect, or compensate for a weakened self. His final book How Does Analysis Cure? (1984) continued to expand on the therapeutic process itself. Moving away from the classical psychoanalytic idea of "insight", Kohut thought the deeper healing factor in therapy was the patient's experience of being empathically understood within a selfobject relationship.
Major concepts
Self 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.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
