Introduction to Self Psychology
Instructor: Ashley Warner, LCSW, BCD-P
Seminar Details
When: Wednesdays, 7:00–8:30pm
3 Sessions - 2/4, 2/11, 2/18
Where: Zoom
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Seminar Overview
When Heinz Kohut, founder of self psychology, was forming his seminal ideas in the 1960s and 70s, he was a staunch Freudian analyst immersed in the dogma of the classical tradition. It was his willingness to learn from his patients that led Kohut to conceptualize psychological disturbances as the result of chronic and traumatic empathic failures rather than intrapsychic conflict. From this perspective, the nature of analytic work changed to prioritize the subjective experience of the patient and to locate cure through the capacity to reactivate thwarted development via a special kind of connection with the analyst.
This seminar series will introduce the fundamental concepts of self psychology with an emphasis on clinical application.
“…many times when I believed I was right and my patients were wrong, it turned out, though often only after a prolonged search, that my rightness was superficial whereas their rightness was profound." (Kohut, 1971)
Class 1: Empathy
Empathy is central to the origin story of self psychology. This often-misunderstood concept allowed Kohut to formulate his—at the time—radical new ideas, and is the backbone of self psychological work. In this seminar we explore aspects of empathy and apply those ideas to clinical process.
Reading: Geist, R. (2007). Who are you, who am I, and where are we going: sustained empathic immersion in the opening phase of psychoanalytic treatment. Int. J. Psychoanal. Self Psychol., 2:1-26.
Optional: Kohut, H. (2010). On empathy. Int. J. Psychoanal. Self Psychol., (5)(2):122-131
Class 2: Narcissism
Narcissism is a hot topic these days, tending to the pejorative in both therapeutic and everyday settings. Kohut, however, maintained that it is stunted archaic narcissism that is problematic, while mature expressions of narcissism inform the highest achievements of humankind. Through case examples, this seminar explores the transformation of what Kohut came to call “self pathology”.
Reading: Lachmann, F. (2008). The process of transforming. Int. J. Psychoanal. Self Psychol., (3)(1):1-15
Optional: Kohut, H. (1966). Forms and transformations of narcissism. J. Amer.Psychoanal. Assn., 14:243-272
Class 3: The Self and Selfobjects
In our final session, we explore the particular types of psychological needs that Kohut identified as fundamental to wellbeing throughout the lifespan. When these needs are traumatically thwarted in childhood due to chronic empathic failures, analysis offers a second chance for their development. Clinical examples illuminate these selfobject experiences and the selfobject transferences that allow their reactivated growth.
Reading: Fosshage, J. (1998). Self psychology and its contributions to psychoanalysis: an overview.Psychoanalytic Social Work, 5B(2):1-17
All readings for the seminar will be provided for you.
Ashley Warner, LCSW, BCD-P is faculty and supervising analyst, Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center, and graduate and faculty, NY Institute for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology. Publications and presentations include topics of complex and incidental trauma, creativity, and clinical process. Ashley is an associate editor for the journal Psychoanalysis, Self, and Context, and currently serves as the clinical conference committee chair for CSPP. She is in private practice in New York City and Guilford, CT.
