Between therapist and client : the new relationship by Kahn Michael 1924-

Author:Kahn, Michael, 1924- [Kahn, Michael, 1924-]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Psychotherapist and patient, Psychotherapy
Publisher: New York : W.H. Freeman and Co.
Published: 1997-05-13T19:00:00+00:00

Kohut taught that the development and maturation of the self is a lifelong process, and that throughout life a person experiences recurring needs for people (Kohut called them selfobjects) who will furnish mirroring experiences, serve as idealized imagoes, and satisfy alter ego needs for belonging. Kohut's theory is a useful counterweight to the quite common belief that as mature adults we are supposed to do it all on our own, that only the weak need other people. Kohut called this the false "maturity morality" of our culture and of classical psychoanalysis, and repeatedly reminded us that there is nothing immature in the lifelong need for selfobjects. Gill is one of many psychoanalysts who have expressed their gratitude to Kohut for this emphasis.

The relation of self psychology to Freud's theory of development

That, in greatly simplified form, is Kohut's theory of development. Before we move on to consider his clinical theory, we should consider for a moment the relation of Kohut's self psychology to Freud's theories of psychosex-ual development and psychopathology. An exploration of those theories is beyond the scope of this book, but since we are working toward an integration of Kohut, Rogers, and Gill, and since Gill's theories of development and psychopathology draw so heavily on Freud, we should ask whether Kohut's conception of the self's development is supplementary to Freud's or opposed to it.

It is widely held these days that all the object relations theories, including Kohut's, are irreconcilably opposed to Freud's theories of motivation, development, and psychopathology. 14 Till the last years of his life, Kohut rejected that view; he held that he was building on classical psychoanalytic theory, not competing with it. The theory

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.