Self Psychology: An Introduction

by Peter A. Lessem

This comprehensive, introductory text makes the concepts of self psychology accessible for students and clinicians. It begins with an overview of the development of Kohut's ideas, particularly those on narcissism and narcissistic development and explains the self object concept that is at the core of the self psychological vision of human experience. It also includes brief overviews, of the allied theoretical perspectives of intersubjectivity and motivational systems theory. Numerous clinical vignettes are furnished to illustrate theoretical concepts as well as one continuous case vignette that is woven throughout the book.

Genres: Psychology

288 pages, Hardcover

First published May 12, 2005

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

My clinical supervisor has often brought in concepts from self psychology to help me treat the folks in my psychiatric practice that don't seem to respond to more traditional dynamic or cognitive-behavioral techniques, and I picked this book up as a way to better understand this group. The basic idea is that we all start out with a few psychological functions (like soothing and encouraging and stabilizing and understanding) that the important figures in our early lives do for us until we develop the ability to do so on our own. For people who didn't get that internalized, the therapist can provide those functions of the self and encourage the client to recognize deficit and start to make some of this happen internally. I found the writing repetitive, which helped me cement concepts at first got got a little tiresome by the end, and I would recommend fatigued readers consider the book complete after finishing chapter 7 (Clinical Process) and jumping ahead for the short chapter 11 on aggression.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can be a bit repetitive at times (which may help some readers better remember the content), but, overall, a good simplification of the theories of self psychology with some clinical applications as well.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seriously pedantic. Painfully awkward sentence structure and unnecessarily wordy. Do not recommend.

[jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you're trying to understand Self Psychology this is a must have - like Cliff Notes for Kohut

[Qui2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Clearly written.