Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Heinz Kohut (May 3, 1913 ... It is a treatise on narcissistic personality disorders, ... With Kohut's theory, the psychoanalytical treatment could now be extended to ...
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.
In his book, Kohut deals with a new category of patients, those suffering from narcissistic personality disorders, or at least this was a group of patients that had previously not been treated within psychoanalysis but which were now seen in a different light. [3] Kohut's work is divided into three parts, with a separate introductory chapter.
Healthy narcissism was first conceptualized by Heinz Kohut, who used the descriptor "normal narcissism" and "normal narcissistic entitlement" to describe children's psychological development. [ 1 ] [ 20 ] Kohut's research showed that if early narcissistic needs could be adequately met, the individual would move on to what he called a "mature ...
Yet, Kohut argues that we must simultaneously be able to treat the self as a content of the mental apparatus. In saying this, Kohut retains the Freudian structural model of the mind, with the self as a content within this structure, while also at the same time, from another perspective, discarding it.
Kohut also saw beyond the negative and pathological aspects of narcissism, believing it is a component in the development of resilience, ideals and ambition once it has been transformed by life experiences or analysis [25] —though critics objected that his theory of how 'we become attached to ideals and values, instead of to our own archaic ...
To Kohut, idealization in childhood is a healthy mechanism. If the parents fail to provide appropriate opportunities for idealization ( healthy narcissism ) and mirroring (how to cope with reality), the child does not develop beyond a developmental stage in which they see themselves as grandiose but in which they also remain dependent on others ...
Heinz Kohut feels the patient knows what he needs, regardless of what the analyst may think he knows. He stresses the importance of hopes in maturity and throughout development. There is an enduring need for ideals and idealization that vitalizes self experience. [ 12 ]