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Heinz Kohut (; May 3, 1913 – October 8, 1981) was an Austrian-born American
psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...
best known for his development of
self psychology Self psychology, a modern psychoanalytic theory and its clinical applications, was conceived by Heinz Kohut in Chicago in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, and is still developing as a contemporary form of psychoanalytic treatment. In self psychology, t ...
, an influential school of thought within
psychodynamic Psychodynamics, also known as psychodynamic psychology, in its broadest sense, is an approach to psychology that emphasizes systematic study of the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate t ...
/
psychoanalytic PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk the ...
theory which helped transform the modern practice of analytic and dynamic treatment approaches.


Early life

Kohut was born on May 3, 1913, in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Austria-Hungary, to Felix Kohut and Else Kohut (née Lampl). He was the only child of the family. Kohut's parents were assimilated Jews living in
Alsergrund Alsergrund (; ) is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. As a central district, the area is densely populated. Accor ...
, or the Ninth District, who had married two years earlier. His father was an aspiring concert pianist, but abandoned his dreams having been traumatized by his experiences in
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and moved into business with Paul Bellak. His mother opened her own shop sometime after the war, something that few women did at that time in Vienna. Else's relationship with her son has been described as "narcissistic enmeshment". Kohut was not enrolled in school until the fifth grade. Before that he was taught by several tutors, a series of "Fräuleins and mademoiselles". Special care was taken that he learn French. From 1924 on he attended the Döblinger Gymnasium in
Grinzing Grinzing () was an independent municipality until 1892 and is today a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. Wien.gv.at webpage (see below: References). Geography Location Grinzing lies in the northwest of Vienna and, with an ...
, or the 19th District, where the Kohuts built a house. During his time at the school he had one, then he had been isolated from his peers by his mother. At school, a special emphasis was given to the
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
and
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
languages and
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
and
Roman literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literatur ...
. Kohut also came to appreciate
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
,
Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
and
Robert Musil Robert Musil (; 6 November 1880 – 15 April 1942) was an Austrian philosophical writer. His unfinished novel, ''The Man Without Qualities'' (), is generally considered to be one of the most important and influential modernist novels. Family M ...
. In 1929, Kohut spent two months in Saint-Quay-Portrieux in
Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
in order to study French. At school he wrote his thesis on
Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...
' play '' The Cyclops''. His Latin teacher, who had
anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
sentiments and later participated in the Austrian Nazi movement, accused him of plagiarism. The thesis was accepted after Kohut's father intervened. Kohut entered the medical faculty of the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
in 1932. His studies took six years, during which time he spent six months in internships in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, first at the
Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu () was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris being the oldest an ...
, and then at the Hôpital Saint-Louis. The latter hospital specialized in the treatment of
syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...
, which subjected Kohut to shocking experiences. In Paris, he became acquainted with Jacques Palaci, a Jewish medical student from
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
, and paid a visit to him in 1936. The following year, Kohut's father died of
leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...
. Sometime after this, Kohut entered psychotherapy with Walter Marseilles, who seems not to have been competent at his profession. Early in 1938, Kohut began
psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
with August Aichhorn, a close friend of
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
. After
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
was
annexed Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...
to
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
by
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
on March 12, 1938, the new regime presented difficulties for Kohut, as he still had to take his final exams at the medical faculty. He was eventually allowed to take them after all the Jewish professors had been removed from the university. The Nazis then effectively confiscated all property owned by Jews. The property was sold for much less than its market value, and much of the rest was taken by the state in taxes. Kohut eventually left Austria, landing first in a refugee camp in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Many of his relatives who stayed behind were killed in the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. In February 1940, Kohut was allowed to travel in a British convoy to
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, from where he travelled to
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
by bus. A friend from Vienna
Siegmund Levarie
who had emigrated to live with an uncle in Chicago and who would subsequently become a famous
musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...
in the United States, arranged a visa for him and invited him to join him there. Kohut's mother Else also emigrated to Chicago, traveling via
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. With the money she had smuggled out of Austria, she opened a shop called "De Elsie's".


Early days in Chicago

Kohut was able to secure his first position in the South Shore Hospital in Chicago, and in 1941 he began a residency in
neurology Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...
at the University of Chicago's Billings Hospital, where he lived and worked until 1948. He was board certified in neurology in 1947. Around this time, he apparently decided that he would assume a gentile identity, and chose the Unitarian Church as his denomination. Kohut was unhappy with neurology, and it seems he was bored in this field. Too much of his time was spent in the laboratory, and there was not enough contact with human emotion.


Career as a psychoanalyst


Moving into psychiatry and psychoanalysis

In late 1942, Kohut applied to the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, which had been founded by Franz Alexander in 1932, modelling it on the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute of the 1920s. Kohut was not accepted, and the rejection was decisive. The reason for this remains unclear, but Kohut was not even allowed to begin a didactic analysis. However, he found a clever way around this impasse by going into analysis, beginning in March 1943, with Ruth Eissler, who was also Viennese, and a training and supervising analyst at the institute. Furthermore, Ruth Eissler's husband Kurt R. Eissler, also an analyst, was regarded by August Aichhorn as the most promising future leader of psychoanalysis in America. In 1944 Kohut decided to leave neurology and move into
psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...
, and in 1947 he was appointed associate professor of psychiatry at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
. He got his certification psychiatry in 1949. In the fall of 1946 he had already been accepted to the Chicago Institute and began immediately on its courses. In the summer of 1947, he was given his first two "control" cases, followed by a third and a fourth case in early 1948. He began to receive patients on a permanent basis in 1949. In October 1950 he took his exams, passed them and became officially an analyst. He became a training and supervising analyst as well as a member of the institute's staff in 1953. Unlike Franz Alexander, who had sought to shorten analyses, Kohut took as long as it took for the patients to get well in analysis. The agenda came entirely from the patient, whose job it was to say whatever occurred to him or her. He said to one of his patients: "I will do what I can to help you try and understand yourself." He received his patients at the institute. All his patients are said to have adored him, although in the beginning of his career he had one case with which he failed miserably. Also, during the early years of his career as an analyst, his success was mixed. Kohut analyzed several people, who were already analysts but who felt they had not benefited as much from their didactic analyses as they had hoped. Some did their training analyses with him. These individuals included Peter Barglow, Michael Franz Basch, George Klumpner and Paul Tolpin.


Teacher of psychoanalysis

Kohut's work in teaching at the institute became his primary commitment for the rest of his life. He soon became known as the most gifted and creative analyst in the Chicago Institute. Together with Louis Shapiro and Joan Fleming, he rewrote the curriculum of the institute and taught its two-year theory course for a decade. The course was not one of the history of psychoanalysis but a study of "psychoanalytic psychology presented according to historical principles." It was a very Freudian course and contained no hints of where he would later move in his theoretical views. Kohut appeared as a master of metapsychology in these lectures. He later gave the course over to Philip Seitz, who had been auditing the course and had made notes of it that he had discussed with Kohut and then amended those notes in accordance of those discussions. This collaboration resulted in a joint article, entitled "Concepts and Theories of Psychoanalysis: Relation of Method and Theory" (1963). Seitz published his notes more than three decades later in the form of a book. Kohut's teaching style is said to have been brilliant, but at the same time it eclipsed the minds of the listeners, and according to Paul Ornstein who took the course, the style was pedagogically a failure. Other commentators have also said that Kohut's brilliance made his students passive and did not encourage independent thinking. Kohut felt that analysts should be scientists and not technicians who just applied a set of rules to their work. He believed that if the latter were to be the case, the whole field of psychoanalysis would be assimilated to dynamic psychiatry and disappear forever.


Administrator in psychoanalysis

Kohut was active in the American Psychoanalytic Association from the 1950s. He served on the board of the '' Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association'', and in a number of committees. But in the 1960s he rose to the top of this organization. First he was its secretary during 1961–62, then president-elect during 1962–63, and finally the president during 1964–65. This further cemented his friendship with Kurt and Ruth Eissler. Kurt Eissler was now one of the leading figures of the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. He also became friends with Heinz Hartmann, who was a very important figure for him. The last of these positions meant an incredible amount of work, preparing all kinds of meetings and working in a number of committees, as well as putting out all kinds of bush fires within the association. There was, for example, a question of whether analysts should or could express publicly their views about the mental health of
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...
. Kohut was at the time very much a representative of traditional Freudian analysis, and he was very careful not to do anything that could have been interpreted as a departure from traditional views. He was also careful about "his reputation as the chosen one to provide leadership for the next generation of psychoanalysts." Much later he jokingly said that in the 1950s and early 1960s he was "Mr. Psychoanalysis." During this time Kohut became acquainted with everyone who mattered in psychoanalysis worldwide. For Kohut, the most important of these figures was
Anna Freud Anna Freud CBE ( ; ; 3 December 1895 – 9 October 1982) was a British psychoanalyst of Austrian Jewish descent. She was born in Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father a ...
. He first met her in 1964 in a meeting in Princeton. After that they were constantly writing to each other. In the fall of 1966, the University of Chicago gave Anna Freud an honorary doctoral degree. Kohut may have been among the people who initiated this idea, and when she came to Chicago for this event, she stayed with the Kohuts in their apartment. Various activities were arranged for her in Chicago, and for Kohut this visit was a great success. In the long run Kohut began to feel that his work as the president drained his energies and kept him from developing his own ideas. He was also beginning to have ambivalent feelings about classical analysis. In addition, this position exposed him to people who were self-centered, full of themselves and narcissistic in the worst sense of the word. There was nothing wrong in the science of psychoanalysis, he felt, but the problem was in the people "who are carrying on their work on the basis of these ideas." One could say that this was his higher education in matters related to
narcissism Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive preoccupation with oneself and one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism, named after the Greek mythological figure ''Narcissus'', has evolv ...
. After leaving his position of the president of ''The American'', Kohut was in 1965 elected vice-president of the
International Psychoanalytical Association The International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) is an association including 12,000 psychoanalysts as members and works with 70 constituent organizations. It was founded in 1910 by Sigmund Freud, from an idea proposed by Sándor Ferenczi. His ...
(IPA). In 1968 he was encouraged by Anna Freud and the Eisslers to run for the presidency of this world-wide organization, as in 1969 it was the Americans' turn to have their representative elected. In the end it turned out that the European members of IPA were beginning to favour Leo Rangell, and thus Kohut would not stand a chance in the election. Anna Freud advised him not offer himself for a defeat, and Kohut withdrew from the race. He then explained this situation to his colleagues by saying that the presidency would have interfered with his creative work, which was a self-invented myth that many colleagues duly bought. Had Kohut been elected, it would have been likely that his first monograph, ''The Analysis of the Self'' would have remained his only main contribution to psychoanalytic theory.


A writer within psychoanalysis


Early articles

Beginning in 1946, Kohut's friend Siegmund Levarie organized a series of concerts at the University of Chicago. In 1947, the response of the audience to a piece composed by
Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...
led him to write an article on some general principles of the psychology of music, which was published in 1950 in the '' Psychoanalytic Quarterly'' with the title "On the Enjoyment of Listening to Music." Also in 1947 Kohut began to ponder
Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
's
novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...
'' Death in Venice''. In 1950 he wrote the final version of his thoughts on this novella and presented it as his graduation paper. He decided, however, not to publish it, as Mann was still alive. This article was finally published in 1957, also in the ''Psychoanalytic Quarterly'', two years after Mann's death.


On empathy

Kohut's first truly scientific contribution was his 1959 article on
empathy Empathy is generally described as the ability to take on another person's perspective, to understand, feel, and possibly share and respond to their experience. There are more (sometimes conflicting) definitions of empathy that include but are ...
, entitled "Introspection, Empathy, and Psychoanalysis: An Examination of the Relationship Between Mode of Observation and Theory", which was written for the twenty-fifth anniversary meeting of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis in November 1957, and also presented by Kohut in a psychoanalytic congress in Paris the same year. This theme actually relates to the very foundation of psychoanalysis, the ability of one human being potentially to gain access to the psychological states of another human being. Interestingly, Sigmund Freud only mentioned this phenomenon in passing in a footnote in one of his articles ("A path leads from identification by way of imitation to empathy, that is, to the comprehension of the mechanism by means of which we are enabled to take up any attitude towards the life of another soul." Kohut now took up the matter and gave a very thorough presentation on this subject, outlining what kind of subject matter can be approached with empathy and what cannot be approached with it. Essentially it means that empathy as a method defines the field that can be observed with its aid. The basic thesis is that those phenomena that can be approached by means of empathy are called psychological (i.e. relate to the inner life of man), and those that cannot be approached with it, are non-psychological, i.e. physical phenomena and must be approached with our sensory equipment. The approach thus is
epistemological Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowled ...
. Despite the warm reception of this paper in Chicago, it was initially turned down by the editors of the ''Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association'', on the grounds that it presented too basic a challenge to psychoanalytic theory and thus not appropriately psychoanalytic. After an intervention by Max Gitelson, who argued that the journal should not engage itself in ideological censorship, the editorial board reconsidered the paper and eventually published it in 1959.


Applied psychoanalysis

In 1960 Kohut published in the '' Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association'' an article entitled "Beyond the Bounds of the Basic Rule. Some Recent Contributions to Applied Psychoanalysis." In it he deals with four psychoanalytic biographic works that had recently been published: * Phyllis Greenacre: ''
Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...
and Carroll, A Psychoanalytic Study of Two Lives'' (1955); *Edward Hirschmann: ''Great Men: Psychoanalytic Studies'' (1955); *Ida Macalpine and Richard A. Hunter, (ed.): '' Daniel Paul Schreber, Memoirs of my Nervous Illness'' (1955); *Editha Sterba and Richard Sterba: ''
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
and his Nephew. A Psychoanalytic Study of their Relationship'' (1954). With regard to using a psychoanalytic approach to works of art and to the lives of artists, Kohut lists three problems: *The scholar must have a solid grounding in both psychoanalysis and in the field under study. *The scholar is doing his study outside the traditional psychoanalytic situation, and thus without the benefit of the free association of the analysand. Furthermore, the person under study may have presented a false self in his artistic creations. *Often efforts in applied analysis are geared toward demonstrating the importance of psychoanalysis itself, and thus these studies have little relevance in the art form which is being studied and leaves itself open to critique of reductionism.


On courage

The article entitled "On Courage", first published posthumously in 1985, is said to have been the most personal one Kohut wrote, with the exception of the article entitled "The Two Analyses of Mr. Z." He examines here the actions of
Franz Jägerstätter Franz Jägerstätter, (also spelled Jaegerstaetter in English; born Franz Huber, 20 May 1907 – 9 August 1943) was an Austrians, Austrian farmer and conscientious objector during World War II. Jägerstätter was sentenced to death and executed ...
, Hans and
Sophie Scholl Sophia Magdalena Scholl (9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943) was a German student and anti-Nazi political activist, active in the White Rose non-violent German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany. Raised in a politically engag ...
during Hitler's reign in Germany and their willingness to accept death as their only reward. According to Kohut, these people were not crazy, but "they represented a higher and deeper psychological truth that they reached in their actions. Their values gave them no other choice than to refuse to go along with the demands of the Nazi regime.


Mitscherlich laudation

Kohut spoke and wrote on the post-war psychological problems of the German people when he was invited to speak in
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
in October 1969. He was chosen as the laudator when the
Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is an international list of peace prizes, peace prize awarded annually by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (), which runs the Frankfurt Book Fair. The award ceremony is held in the Frankfurter Paulskirche, Paulskirche in Frankfurt. T ...
was awarded to Alexander Mitscherlich, with whom Kohut had become acquainted since the 1950s. Mitscherlich was a medical doctor and a psychoanalyst who had written several well received books on Germany's guilt concerning
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. Kohut's main thesis was that Mitscherlich had applied the "analytic principle of individual cure to the therapeutic transformation of a whole population." The audience included the President of the Federal Republic of Germany
Gustav Heinemann Gustav Walter Heinemann (; 23 July 1899 – 7 July 1976) was a German politician who was President of West Germany from 1969 to 1974. He served as mayor of Essen from 1946 to 1949, West German Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, and Mini ...
, and the speech was broadcast live to an estimated audience of 20–30 million people.


Development of psychoanalytic self psychology

In the aftermath of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and
the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, Freudian analysis focused on individual guilt and tended not to reflect the new
zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' (; ; capitalized in German) is an invisible agent, force, or daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. The term is usually associated with Georg W. F ...
(the emotional interests and needs of people struggling with issues of identity, meaning, ideals, and self-expression)

Though he initially tried to remain true to the traditional analytic viewpoint with which he had become associated and viewed the self as separate but coexistent to the Id, ego and super-ego, ego, Kohut later rejected Freud's structural theory of the
id, ego, and superego In psychoanalytic theory, the id, ego, and superego are three distinct, interacting agents in the psychic apparatus, outlined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche. The three agents are theoretical constructs that Freud employed t ...
. He then developed his ideas around what he called the tripartite (three-part) self. According to Kohut, this three-part self can only develop when the needs of one's "self states", including one's sense of worth and well-being, are met in relationships with others. In contrast to traditional psychoanalysis, which focuses on drives (instinctual motivations of sex and aggression), internal conflicts, and fantasies, self psychology thus placed a great deal of emphasis on the vicissitudes of relationships. Kohut demonstrated his interest in how we develop our "sense of self" using
narcissism Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive preoccupation with oneself and one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism, named after the Greek mythological figure ''Narcissus'', has evolv ...
as a model. If a person is
narcissistic Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive preoccupation with oneself and one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism, named after the Greek mythological figure ''Narcissus'', has evolv ...
, it will allow him to suppress feelings of low
self-esteem Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth, abilities, or morals. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Macki ...
. By talking highly of himself, the person can eliminate his sense of worthlessness.


The self psychology movement


The beginnings

With the exception of such persons as Louis Shapiro and Jerome Kavka, Kohut's peers were not receptive to his new ideas. However, younger analysts, such as Arnold Goldberg, Michael Franz Basch, Paul Ornstein, Anna Ornstein, Paul Tolpin, Marian Tolpin and Ernest Wolf and in the early days John Gedo were interested in his work, and David Marcus was also involved for a while. Goldberg eventually emerged as the central figure of the group, whereas Paul Ornstein would become the editor of Kohut's collected works. Basch was the most original thinker of the group, but he chose to remain on its fringes. The group met originally in Kohut's apartment in order to discuss his manuscript of what would become ''The Analysis of the Self''. There were nine such meetings during the spring and early summer of 1969. The manuscript was considered to be difficult by the group, and the comments convinced Kohut that he had to write a new beginning to this book, which then became its first chapter, entitled "Introductory Considerations." In reality this may actually have made the book even more difficult to digest than what it had been prior to the writing of this new first chapter.


''The Analysis of the Self''

'' The Analysis of the Self'' is Heinz Kohut's first
monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...
, which was published in 1971. It is a treatise on
narcissistic personality disorder Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a life-long pattern of grandiosity, exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a diminished ability to empathy, empathize w ...
s, and on their psychoanalytic treatment. As his starting point, Kohut takes the conceptual separation of ''the self'' (German ''das Selbst'') from ''the ego'' (German ''das Ich''), which was done by Heinz Hartmann. Whereas the
id, ego and super-ego In psychoanalytic theory, the id, ego, and superego are three distinct, interacting agents in the psychic apparatus, outlined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche. The three agents are theoretical constructs that Freud employed t ...
are members of the psychic apparatus and thus agencies of the mind, the self is not an agency but still a content and a structure within the psychic apparatus. The self contains two part structures, the ''grandiose self'' and the ''omnipotent object''. These are structures that are found in the development of all human individuals, the healthy as well as the disturbed. They have their own developmental line, which according to Kohut (at the time) was separate from the developmental line of object love. With the narcissistically disturbed people, this development has been thwarted, and the narcissistic structures have been repressed, and thus the narcissistic energies involved with them are not in the disposal of the subject. This results in low self-esteem and many diffuse symptoms, including possible
perversion Perversion is a form of human behavior which is far from what is considered to be orthodoxy, orthodox or Normality (behavior), normal. Although the term ''perversion'' can refer to a variety of forms of ''deviation'', it is most often used to desc ...
s. In the course of an analysis, these structures become activated and the patient is able to transform them. With some, the grandiose self will be dominant, resulting in what is called a mirror transference, and the patient expects to receive admiration from the analyst. With others, the omnipotent object is dominant, and in this case the patient directs an idealizing transference toward the analyst. In a normal childhood as well as in analysis, these (re)activated structures enter the process of transmuting internalization, and what follows is that the grandiose self will turn into a set of ambitions and the omnipotent object into a set of ideals. The various other parties, such as the psychoanalyst, will be called selfobjects, because they are experienced as part of the self. Though dynamic theory tends to place emphasis on childhood development, Kohut believed that the need for such selfobject relationships does not end at childhood but continues throughout all stages of a person's life. Kohut presented his theory as a parallel to the drive theory and the theory of the
Oedipus complex In classical psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex is a son's sexual attitude towards his mother and concomitant hostility toward his father, first formed during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. A daughter's attitude of desire ...
. The idea was to present a theory of a type of patients whose psychological disturbance preceded the emergence of the Oedipus complex. It had traditionally been considered that these patients were too disturbed to be treated psychoanalytically. With Kohut's theory, the psychoanalytical treatment could now be extended to these patients as well.


Between ''Analysis'' and ''Restoration''

In 1971, just after the publication of ''The Analysis of the Self'', Kohut was diagnosed with
lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...
or lymphatic cancer. The cancer spread slowly but was mostly kept under control until 1977. Just when he had enjoyed the moment of greatest glory, he was confronted by a disease that was totally out of his control. Due to his disease he would turn down most invitations to speak, including a chance to speak at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, and to deliver the Freud lecture in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. He also gave up his talks at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
, but he did speak regularly at the
University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...
, which bestowed upon him an honorary degree in November 1973. In 1973, a banquet was arranged for Kohut's 60th birthday, which turned into a conference on self psychology. Among the participants were such people as Alexander Mitscherlich from
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
, Paul Parin from
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
an
Jacques Palaci
from
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, as well as many psychoanalysts from the United States, including e.g.
René Spitz René Árpád Spitz (; January 29, 1887 – September 14, 1974) was an Austrian-American psychoanalyst. He is best known for his analysis of hospitalized infants in which he found links between marasmus and death with unmothered infants. Spitz ...
from
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
. The distinguished historian of Vienna, Carl Schorske from Princeton was a featured speaker. The high point was a banquet, wit
John Gedo
as the speaker. Kohut himself would respond to Gedo's speech by delivering a speech which he had spent months preparing and which he had memorized and presented as a spontaneous response to Gedo. It was later published with the title "The Future of Psychoanalysis." In Strozier's view, Kohut's illness forced him to think for himself and resulted in several breakthroughs in his career as a theorist of psychoanalysis. He came to the conclusion that many analysts had been shaming their analysands in the guise of offering interpretations, that neurotic pathology was only a cover for narcissistic problems, that idealization was not a form of defense, that everyone needs mirroring, and that rage is a byproduct of the disintegration of the self. He broke free from classical metapsychology and formed his own, general psychology, with the self as its center. This would be self-psychology in its broad sense. The approaching death forced Kohut to think with his own brains. He knew that he was shaking psychoanalysis in its core, and he was afraid he would not have the time to finish his revolutionary job. By and large he stopped reading psychoanalytic literature, saying either that others say things better than him or that they write things that are no good. He devoted his time to his own writing, to listening to music and reading about the arts.


On narcissistic rage

In his book ''The Analysis of the Self'', Kohut states that the topic of narcissistic rage will be taken up separately. This he did in the article ''Thoughts on Narcissism and Narcissistic Rage'', which he published in 1972. In the article, Kohut wrote: The article was possibly a miscalculation, because he ought to have written on this topic in one of his monographs, which were more widely read than his articles. Due to this fact, criticism was leveled at him, saying that his views on aggression and rage were inadequate and naive and superficial at best.Strozier 2001, p. 249. For Freud, rage was a biological given that one needed to learn to curb. For him, wars, intolerance and repression were caused by a regression to a more primitive psychological level of the drives, from which our egos are separated only by a thin layer of civilization. For Kohut, neither the history nor the human soul could be explained by such reductionistic formulae. For him, rage was a byproduct of the disintegration of the self. For him, the rage one feels is in no proportion to the slight that has caused it. A person filled with rage does not feel any empathy towards the person or persons that have caused the slight. According to Kohut, Mature aggression, however, is goal oriented and limited in scope. Rage, on the other hand, consists of a desperate need for revenge, an unforgiving fury for righting a wrong, when one's self has disintegrated due to an experienced slight. Kohut published another important article in 1976, entitled "Creativeness, Charisma, Group Psychology. Reflections on the Self-Analysis of Freud". He starts by making some comments on the psychoanalytic community, and then moves to Freud's self-analysis and his relationship with Wilhelm Fließ, but in the end he writes about charismatic and messianic personalities. His examples of these are
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
and Churchill. The key concept in this article is the group self, which he puts forward in a tentative manner, as a "potentially fruitful concept". Charismatic and messianic personalities evolve from childhood situations, in which the child has been given empathy at first, but then the mirroring and idealized figures have caused them "abrupt and unpredictable frustrations". In result, the child has taken upon himself to perform the tasks of the selfobjects, developing a superempathy towards himself, while feeling next to no empathy and plenty of fury towards the outside world. He has begun to live in a decidedly archaic world filled with rage at the torment he suffered from his early selfobjects. He feels perfect himself, and asserts his perfection with self-righteousness, and demands control over others who would then serve as vicarious regulators of self-esteem. These people have special capabilities for sensitivity,


The group begins anew

After the publication of ''The Analysis of the Self'' the friendship between Kohut, on the one hand, and
Anna Freud Anna Freud CBE ( ; ; 3 December 1895 – 9 October 1982) was a British psychoanalyst of Austrian Jewish descent. She was born in Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father a ...
and Kurt Eissler, on the other, began to cool off slowly, as the latter began to understand the implications of Kohut's work. Among Kohut peers, a notable exceptions to this pattern were
René Spitz René Árpád Spitz (; January 29, 1887 – September 14, 1974) was an Austrian-American psychoanalyst. He is best known for his analysis of hospitalized infants in which he found links between marasmus and death with unmothered infants. Spitz ...
and Jerome Kavka. Most of his old friends shunned him. For example, Martin Stein from
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
lambasted later Kohut's 1977 book in the pages of the '' Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association''. Kohut was even voted out of the board of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. In 1973, Kohut assembled again the group of his younger followers, inactive since 1969, to write what would be published as the so-called ''Casebook'', officially ''The Psychology of the Self: A Casebook''. Invited were John Gedo, Arnold Goldberg
Michael Franz Basch
Paul Ornstein and Anna Ornstein, Paul Tolpin and Marian Tolpin
Ernest Wolf
David Marcus and Meyer Gunther. However, Gedo soon left the group. The idea was that Kohut's disciples were to write case histories of analyses which Kohut had supervised, and that Kohut would supply the book with his comments. The book was edited by Arnold Goldberg, but John Gedo left the group in 1974, and Kohut himself soon left the project as well, although it is said on the cover that it was "written with the collaboration of Heinz Kohut". Kohut then assembled a smaller group which would meet in private homes. People from outside Chicago were also invited. This group would in 1978 evolve into annual conferences on self-psychology.


''The Restoration of the Self''

The title of Kohut's second monograph is ''The Restoration of the Self''. It was published in 1977. Kohut started to write this book in
Carmel, California Carmel-by-the-Sea (), commonly known simply as Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, located on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 3,220, down from 3,722 a ...
, during his summer vacation in 1974. By February 1975, he had written ca. "three quarters" of it, and by June he said it was soon to be completed. Its working title was a rather awful one, ''The Rehabilitation of the Self: Thoughts About the Termination of Analyses and the Concept of Cure''. After the summer of 1975, he would say that the book was already finished. By October 1975, he had arrived at the final title, '' The Restoration of the Self''. However, he carried on working on this book for the next year, and during this time he abandoned the awkward subtitle. The book was published in the spring of 1977, and it was an immediate success: by June it had sold 11.500 copies. ''The Restoration of the Self'' is the best-written and most accessible book by Kohut. He tried as best he could to avoid the language of the drive theory as well as psychoanalytic
metapsychology Metapsychology (from meta- 'beyond, transcending' and psychology) is that aspect of a psychoanalytic theory that discusses the terms that are essential to it, but leaves aside or transcends the phenomena that the theory deals with. Psychology re ...
, which made his first book, ''The Analysis of the Self'', such a difficult read. Kohut had decided to make his new book more accessible, and he worked together with Natalie Altman, his publisher's editor, who would read and comment on his text. This work proceeded throughout the year 1976. ''Restoration'' turned out to be Kohut's breakthrough, the work in which he steps up from behind the curtain. He had abandoned the drive theory and its language, and he was never again to return to the mainstream Freudian psychoanalysis. Nearly all principles of psychoanalytic technique, inherited from Freud, were now in the line of fire: the drive theory, the central role of infantile sexuality, the Oedipus complex, the close relationship between conflicts, defenses and resistances, and working through. Kohut makes a clear break from Freudian thinking. Kohut says that ''The Restoration of the Self'' "is not a technical or theoretical monograph written detachedly by an author who has achieved mastery in a stable and established field of knowledge". On the contrary, "it is a report of an analyst's attempt to struggle toward greater clarity in an area that, despite years of conscientious effort, he was unable to understand within the available psychoanalytic framework." He says he is "floundering in a morass of conflicting, poorly based, and often vague theoretical speculation," and that the only way forward was to go "back to the direct observation of clinical phenomena and the construction of new formulations that would accommodate my observations." He says he had tried to integrate his thoughts with those of previous thinkers, but this Kohut bypasses most authors in the field of psychoanalysis, but not Freud. He is in constant dialogue with him, and often finds himself contradicting him: Freud is no longer a relevant thinker from the point of view of history, or conceptually, therapeutically of philosophically. Kohut writes about the Tragic Man (his view of man) and the Guilty Man (Freud's view of man), and Freud seems almost to suffocate Kohut. He struggles to breathe, and the "only salvation is that the struggle to breathe forces Kohut to clarify his ideas in ways that changed the field forever." For Freud the essence of psychoanalysis was that "neurotic misery would be transformed into common unhappiness", and the unconscious would have to become conscious, repression barriers would have to be overcome, and light would have to penetrate the cauldron of desires, and the truth would have to be seen face to face, no matter what would follow from it. For Freud, Kohut's idea that the psyche could be transformed into something new was "completely alien and exceedingly naïve." "In Freud's early work with hysteria, Kohut argues, he probably cured mostly through suggestion and the mighty force of his belief in the rightness of his views," writes Strozier. Healing was not Freud's point. "Freud's values were not primarily health values", Kohut wrote. However, in Kohut's view, "it is to Freud's eternal credit that he created depth psychology." Kohut wanted to fundamentally question Freudian drive theory, and he understood that at the same time he would have to question the goals of Freudian analysts: "the mastering of infantile drives through more adaptive sublimations, making unconscious material conscious, and expanding and liberating the realm of the ego." Very few of Kohut's contemporaries understood that these goals originated from the drive theory. Challenging this paradigm was equal to an attack at the core of psychoanalysis.


"The Two Analyses of Mr. Z."

In 1977, at the age of 64, Kohut wrote an article that was to be entitled "The Two Analyses of Mr. Z." This text was first intended for the German edition of ''The Restoration of the Self'', where it would replace the case of "Mr. X." The story is autobiographical, although Kohut himself never admitted this to anyone. "Mr. X." had originally been a case history by Anita Eckstaedt, a German analyst. Mr. X. was a German student of theology analyzed by Eckstaedt, but Kohut had disguised him as a young American man, who had wanted to join the
Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...
but had been turned down. He had supposedly been analyzed in the US by Kohut's younger colleague in supervision with him. When the German edition of ''Restoration'' (''Die Heilung des Selbst'') was in preparation, Eckstaedt wrote to Kohut with two demands: (1) the case needed to be disguised further, and (2) Eckstaedt wanted to have more credit for the case. These demands were clearly mutually exclusive, resulting in a dilemma, which Kohut solved by writing up the case of ''Mr. Z.'', which replaced the case of ''Mr. X.'' in the German edition, which came out in 1979. Kohut later published the case in English in the '' International Journal of Psycho-Analysis'', carefully edited by Natalie Altman.Strozier 2001, p. 309. Mr. Z. is presented as a patient that Kohut had analyzed twice for four years, first within a Freudian framework, and after an interval of five years, within Kohut's new framework of self psychology. Both analyses lasted for five years.Strozier 2001, p. 311. Kohut did not discuss the case of Mr. Z. with his wife Elizabeth or his son Thomas, and he did not read out the article to them, something which he usually did with all his works. Elizabeth and Thomas did not really read the article until after Kohut's death. The important facts of the life of Mr. Z., which coincide with Kohut's life, are the following: He was an only child, his mother had similar character traits to Else Kohut, including her interest in
painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
and
poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
. His father was away for a few years, before the son was five years of age, the story of a
skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...
vacation and the hotel there is similar to Kohut's own life. The novel ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two Volume (bibliography), volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans ...
'' was read to him at an early age. There is a camp counselor that resembles a tutor that Kohut had had at an early age. The parents were distant with each other. However, some details are slightly changed. The father of Mr. Z. sits in with a small band and sings with them, when in reality Felix Kohut was an accomplished pianist. There is no conclusive answer to whether Kohut was Mr. Z., but Strozier makes a strong case for it, as does Cocks. Strozier says that with such a prominent case for self psychology, it would have been highly likely that Kohut would not have used it until 1977, when he had already written two books on his theory.


Personal life

In 1948 Kohut presented case material in a seminar at the Chicago Institute, and one of the listeners was a social worker from the institute, Elizabeth Meyer. They fell immediately in love. For Kohut the decisive thing about her, as he wrote to Aichhorn, was her connection to Vienna. Meyer had spent some time in this city, had gone to analysis as Jenny Waelder's patient and had also been Aichhorn's student. They got married on October 9, 1948. They had one son, Thomas August Kohut (his first name being a reference to Mann, the middle name a reference to Aichhorn), born in 1950. After Thomas was born, Elizabeth Kohut gave up her day job at the institute, returning to work only in 1961 to work half days. The Kohuts also adopted informally the son of a colleague who had died and whose mother had committed suicide. Thomas Kohut studied at the
University of Chicago Lab School The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (also known as Lab, Lab Schools, or U-High, abbreviated UCLS) is a Private school, private, co-educational, Day school, day Early childhood education, pre-school and K–12, K-12 school affiliated wit ...
and eventually went through psychoanalytic training, but then decided to make a career as a
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
and a psychohistorian. Although Kohut enjoyed holiday trips to Europe, often in connection with psychoanalytic events, his favorite place for holidays was the town of Carmel in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. Beginning in 1951, the Kohuts usually spent two months there, from mid-July to mid-September. This way he could escape the hot and humid summers of Chicago, which caused him various problems due to his allergies. They always rented the same house, which was owned by an English couple that wanted to spend the summers in their native country. This house in Carmel is where Kohut did most of his writing. In addition to the holidays in Carmel, the Kohuts also had a country house in
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
, where they could spend weekends, often during the winter. Kohut was psychologically unable to visit his native Vienna until 1957. He then visited his maternal uncle Hans Lampl, who had got back his old position as an executive of the Leykam-Josefsthal A.G. paper company. Lampl treated the Kohuts to a dinner, and used his position of influence to give a special gift to his nephew's son. Kohut's mother Else also lived in Chicago, not far from Kohut's apartment. In the 1950s and 1960s she visited the Kohut family regularly for dinners and major holidays. She is said to have been the only person who could really get under Kohut's skin. Apparently no one in the family liked her. She would be pushy and aggressive, speak directly at other people's faces and poke people with her finger. After 1965, when Else was getting close to 75 years of age, she began to "demonstrate a set of circumscribed
paranoid Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...
delusion A delusion is a fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some other m ...
s." This, together with her declining health, made it necessary for Kohut to place his mother in a nursing home in 1970. For Kohut, the fact that his mother had turned out to be crazy, was a liberating experience. He now realized that his whole life had been spent trying to escape from his latently psychotic mother. He could now also understand why his father had been absent in his childhood. Strozier argues that Else's craziness liberated Kohut's creativity and made it possible for him to study the deeper meanings of highly regressed states and thus to write his first and most important monograph, ''The Analysis of the Self''. Else Kohut died in late 1972.


Political views

Kohut was not a political person. According to his biographer Strozier, Kohut barely noticed the Nazis when they took over Vienna. In the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, he was viewed as a modern liberal, and he was for state control of gun ownership. He considered the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
to be immoral and stupid, yet he did not initially understand his son's anti-war attitude. Thomas Kohut was at the time studying at
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
, which had a long history in opposing all kinds of social injustice, beginning with opposition to
slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
and being an important station in the
Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...
. Eventually, Kohut came to see reason in his son's views, and their anti-
Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...
sentiments presumably gave them some common ground.


Death

In the final week of his life, knowing that his time was at an end, Kohut spent as much time as he could with his family and friends. He fell into a
coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...
on the evening of October 7, 1981, and died of cancer in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
on the morning of October 8.


Publications

*''The Analysis of the Self: A Systematic Approach to the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorders'' (1971).
International Universities Press International Universities Press, Inc. was a private publishing company of academic journals and books on psychotherapy and contiguous disciplines. It was established in 1944 and was based in Madison, CT. It published the following journals: *''P ...
, New York. . *''The Restoration of the Self'' (1977). International Universities Press, New York. . *''The Search for the Self: Selected Writings of Heinz Kohut 1950–1978, Vol. 1'' (1978). Edited by Paul Ornstein. International Universities Press, New York. . *''The Search for the Self: Selected Writings of Heinz Kohut 1950–1978, Vol. 2'' (1978). Edited by Paul Ornstein. International Universities Press, New York. .


Posthumously

*''How Does Analysis Cure?'' (1984). Ed. Arnold Goldberg with Paul E. Stepansky.
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...
, Chicago and London. *''Self Psychology and the Humanities'' (1985). Ed. by Charles B. Strozier. W. W. Norton & Co., New York & London. . *''The Kohut Seminars on Self Psychology and Psychotherapy With Adolescents and Young Adults'' (1987). Edited by Miriam Elson. W. W. Norton & Co., New York & London. . *''The Search for the Self: Selected Writings of Heinz Kohut: 1978–1981. Vol. 3'' (1990). Edited by Paul Ornstein. International Universities Press, Madison, Connecticut. . *''The Search for the Self: Selected Writings of Heinz Kohut: 1978–1981. Vol. 4'' (1991). Edited by Paul Ornstein. International Universities Press, Madison, Connecticut. . *''The Curve of Life: Correspondence of Heinz Kohut, 1923–1981'' (1994). Edited by Geoffrey Cocks. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London. . *''The Chicago Institute Lectures'' (1996). Edited Paul Tolpin and, Marian Tolpin. The Analytic Press, Hillsdale, N.J. .


In collaboration with Heinz Kohut

*Arnold Goldberg (ed.): ''The Psychology of the Self: A Casebook''. (1978) International Universities Press, New York. . *Philip F. D. Rubovits-Seitz: ''Kohut's Freudian Vision'' (1999). The Analytic Press, Hillsdale, N.J. and London. .


See also

*
Narcissism Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive preoccupation with oneself and one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism, named after the Greek mythological figure ''Narcissus'', has evolv ...
*
Healthy narcissism Healthy narcissism is a positive sense of self that is in alignment with the greater good. The concept of healthy narcissism was first coined by Paul Federn and gained prominence in the 1970s through the research of Heinz Kohut and Otto Kernber ...
*
Narcissistic personality disorder Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a life-long pattern of grandiosity, exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a diminished ability to empathy, empathize w ...
*
Narcissistic rage Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a life-long pattern of exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a diminished ability to empathize with other people's ...
* True self and false self: Kohut


Citations


Sources

* * *


Further reading

* Phil Mollon: ''Releasing the Self: The Healing Legacy Of Heinz Kohut'' (2001). . * Allen Siegel: ''Heinz Kohut and the Psychology of the Self (Makers of Modern Psychotherapy)'' (1996), . * ''Kohut's Legacy: Contributions to Self Psychology'' (1984). Edited by Paul E. Stepansky and Arnold Goldberg. The Analytic Press, Hillsdale, N.J. . * Charles B. Strozier: ''Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst'' (2004).
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...
, New York. . * White, M. & Weiner, M., ''The Theory And Practice Of Self Psychology'' (1986). . * Ernest S. Wolf: ''Treating the Self: Elements of Clinical Self Psychology'' (2002). . * Charles B. Strozier, Konstantine Pinteris, Kathleen Kelley, and Deborah Cher: ''The New World of Self, Heinz Kohut's Transformation of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy'' (2022).
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, Oxford, U.K. .


External links


Kohut at IAPSP








{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohut, Heinz 1913 births 1981 deaths American psychoanalysts Jewish physicians Jewish psychoanalysts Austrian Jews Austrian psychiatrists American psychiatrists Narcissism writers Analysands of August Aichhorn Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United States 20th-century American physicians