Progress in Self Psychology

271 Pages·1995·17.397 MB·English

by  Arnold I. Goldberg

PROGRESS IN
SELF PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 1
Edited by
ARNOLD GOLDBERG
Editorial Board:
Michael Franz Basch, MD Paul H. Ornstein, MD
Bernard Brandchaft, MD Estelle Shane, PhD
Herbert Linden, MD Morton Shane, MD
Frank Lachmann, PhD Robert D. Stolorow, PhD
Arthur Malin, MD Marian Tolpin, MD
Jule P. Miller, MD Paul H. Tolpin, MD
Anna Ornstein, MD Ernest Wolf, MD
PRESS
THE ANALYTIC
1995 Hillsdale, NJ London
Copyright1995 by The Analytic Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form:
by photostat, microform, electronic retrieval system, or any other means,
without the prior Ytfitten permission of the publisher.
Published by The Analytic Press, Inc.
101 West Street, Hillsdale, NJ 07642
www.analyticpress.com
Originally published in 1985.
ISSN 0-88163-214-7
ISSN 0893-5483
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Contributors
Howard A. Bacal, MD Paul H. Ornstein, MD
Thornhill. Ontario. Canada Cincinnati. Ohio
Michael Franz Basch, MD Morton Shane, MD
Chicago. Illinois Los Angeles. California
Bernard Brandchaft, MD Sanford Shapiro, MD
Beverly Hills. California La Jolla. California
Douglas W. Detrick, PhD Robert D. Stolorow, PhD
Portola Valley. California Los Angeles. California
Arnold Goldberg, MD Charles B. Strozier, PhD
Chicago. Illinois Springfield. Illinois
John M. Hall, MD Paul H. Tolpin, MD
Cincinnati. Ohio Chicago, Illinois
Jule P. Miller, MD Marjorie Taggart White, PhD
St. Louis, Missouri New York. New York
Jerome D. Oremland, MD Samuel L. Wilson, MD
San Francisco. California Santa Monica. California
Anna Ornstein, MD Bonnie Wolfe, PhD
Cincinnati. Ohio Los Angeles. California
Preface
After Heinz Kohut died in October of 1981 and the shock of his departure
had somewhat subsided, those of his colleagues who were interested in and
part of the life and work of this remarkable man, had to consider at length
what self psychology would be without him. I once said to him that there
was no real creativity in self psychology apart from his work, and at that
time he had felt it necessary to apologize for that situation. I now suspect
that there could be no real creativity in the field as long as his presence and
his own brilliant mind continued to impress and produce so much. In truth
it has taken most of us years to understand and appreciate what he gave to
psychoanalysis, and the time for new ideas was simply not right. With this
book we hope that perhaps that moment is imminent.
There is little doubt in the minds of Kohut's friends and associates that
the legacy most significant to him was his work, and his most fervent wish
was to have his ideas promulgated and widely disseminated. There was
more than one time of either dismay and bewilderment on his part when
forced to defend and explain something that he had never written or said,
or when asked to respond to a question that he had written upon extensively.
But since I was among the naive and untutored questioners, I can only agree
that the demon of forgetfulness and misunderstanding never seems to rest
for long. We needed and will continue to need forums for discussion, places
to exchange ideas and learn, and some vehicle to help new thoughts to
grow. To those ends, our first decision was to have annual conferences.
We have held conferences on self psychology all over the country (and
outside as well) that have ranged from single presentations to more complex
three-day meetings with panels, workshops, and seminars. Most of the
conferences have been collected in one volume or another and much of the
material in this present book comes from the sixth annual conference held
in Los Angeles in 1983. However, we were dissatisfied with reporting the
proceedings of a conference in a volume that did not reach publication until
some time later, and we also realized that many people actively working
in self psychology simply did not attend or submit papers to conferences,
so the next step seemed to be to launch a journal, and we held .discussions
vii
viii Preface
on this for some time. Actually these began before Kohut's death and floun
dered not from lack of his own interest, which was markedly positive, but
from simple financial truths. Thus our compromise: an annual volume that
will include the best of our conferences along with selected papers from as
wide a source as possible. Our title is that of progress, and we are convinced
that self psychology can and will thrive despite the loss of its founder.
This volume begins with Charles Strozier's work on a Kohut biography.
This is followed by Jule Miller's account of supervision with Kohut. The
biographical sketch coupled with this glimpse into the man at work are
fitting beginnings to our book. It seems appropriate to have these memories
reawakened as a transition to the work ahead, which will no longer bear
Kohut's signature. This book goes on to Chapters by Basch and Ornstein
and Ornstein with a discussion by Goldberg on a topic at the center of the
problem of technique: interpretation. In the planning of the conference we
hoped to focus on whether and how the interpretations offered by self psy
chologists differ in kind or substance from those of others. It is no surprise
that the issues of technique so dominated our discussion that we came to
no conclusion but rather raised further questions. The third section again
serves as a transition from Kohut to succeeding generations of self psy
chologists. We take a chapter of his last book (Kohut, 1984) entitled "The
Self Psychological Approach to Defense and Resistance" and subject it to
varied appraisals and responses. I think the heart of the controversy "Is it
really different or is it just old wine in new bottles?" lies in these penetrating
discussions.
A host of new names appear in the next two sections of our book. In
the clinical section we meet John Hall, and his presentation of a case fulfills
the most exacting requirements a reader may make of a case presentation.
It explains just what the analyst did or did not do, when, and why. I think
Heinz Kohut would have been especially pleased with this product from
someone who had no personal contact with him, which helps prove that it
was the ideas and not the person that counted. Bonnie Wolfe and Sanford
Shapiro present briefer clinical papers designed to explore the setting of
our clinical practice and highlight the continued expansion of our work in
treating perversion. To complete this section, Wilson provides an interesting
clinical view on the common condition of self-pity.
The more theoretical final section of this volume has a chapter by a
familiar contributor, Robert Stolorow, and more new names: Bacal, White,
and Detrick. All these chapters hold promise of new theory shedding new
light on old subjects as well as showing things never seen before. They are
testimony for our hope that much awaits us in exploring the psychology of
the self, as there is no finished business in psychoanalysis.
It is difficult at this point to predict what will happen to the work of
Heinz Kohut and self psychology. It may be gradually incorporated into
Preface ix
the body of knowledge that is psychoanalysis and thereupon subtly but
inevitably change that amorphous entity. The old words will never be the
same again. The definitions of self, object, ego, representation, have so
evolved that a wave of protest has arisen asking us either to stop using
certain words or to go back to their "real meaning," whatever that may be;
but this is the mark of scientific progress, and self psychology will aid that
evolution.
Perhaps self psychology will never be invited into the house of orthodox
psychoanalysis, but will always be branded as intruder. This fate too would
not be so dreadful, since the work of keeping an invader at bay manages to
change the invaded as well. Heinz Kohut's hope was that self psychology
embrace and encompass all that was good in psychoanalysis. However, no
one wants an arrogant newcomer to try to take over. so the common reaction
to the brash claims of self psychology has been that it does not know its
proper place.
These three fates of self psychology (1) continued isolation as alien;
(2) gradual assimilation into the main body of psychoanalysis; or (3) dom
ination of all analysis, are really fanciful political and sociological issues.
One or another may dominate at various times in various places for a long
time to come. The historian who looks back on psychoanalysis may even
be at pains to say just how and whether self psychology had an impact on
the field of psychoanalysis. The important thing is that the science not be
too severely effected by these political winds in order to continue to learn
and to progress.
The growth of new ideas is a peculiar combination of social and intel
lectual factors. It is comforting to think that ideas flourish because of their
inherent truth or reasonableness and will thereby thrive in a variety of
climates; but there is a contrasting and somewhat cynical stance, that creative
efforts need the proper combination of appeal to the audience and encour
agement of the creator to develop at all, and they are correspondingly molded
by the people who surround the originator. Heinz Kohut developed within
psychoanalysis and tried mightily to influence the major figures in his de
velopment such as Heinz Hartmann and Anna Freud. He worked with a
group of admiring and appreciative colleagues who allowed and perhaps
encouraged his emancipation from the constraints of orthodox psychoanalysis.
Now self psychology emerges with a whole new set of pressures, influences,
and critics. It has to stake out a position that bears the mark of Kohut and
allows appreciation without forming its own orthodoxy.
Unfortunately, we will not know the proper place of self psychology
for many years, and we shall arrive at that destination after a long trip of
many short steps. This book is one such step, and we sincerely hope it is
in the right direction. The future is uncertain but unavoidable, but we hope
it is progressive as well.
x Preface
The preparation of this book was financed by funds from the Harry and
Hazel Cohen Research Fund. Mrs. Chris Susman provided secretarial and
editorial assistance.
Arnold Goldberg. MD
REFERENCE
Kohut, H. (1984). How Does Analysis Cure? A. Goldberg, ed., with P. Stepansky. Chicago
& London: University of Chicago Press.
Contents
SECTION I. MEMORIES OF HEINZ KOHUT
1. Glimpses of a Life: Heinz Kohut (1913-1981) 3
Charles B. Strozier
2. How Kohut Actually Worked 13
Jule P. Miller
SECTION II. INTERPRETATION AND SELF PSYCHOLOGY
3. Interpretation: Toward a Developmental Model 33
Michael Franz Basch
4. Clinical Understanding and Explaining: The Empathic
Vantage Point 43
Paul H. Ornstein and Anna Ornstein
5. Discussion
The Definition and Role of Interpretation 62
Arnold Goldberg
SECTION III. DEFENSE AND RESISTANCE
6. Summary of Kohut's "The Self Psychological Approach
to Defense and Resistance" 69
Morton Shane
7 . Discussion
Self Psychology's Additions to Mainstream Concepts of
Defense and Resistance 80
Morton Shane
8. Discussion
The Primacy of Preservation of Self 83
Paul H. Tolpin
9. Discussion
Resistance and Defense: An Intersubjective View 88
Bernard Brandchaft
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xii Contents
10. Discussion
Kohut's Reformulations of Defense and Resistance as
Applied in Therapeutic Psychoanalysis 97
Jerome D. Oremland
SECTION IV. CLINICAL PAPERS
11. Idealizing Transference: Disruptions and Repairs 109
John M. Hall
12. The Costs of Compliance: A Patient's Response to the
Conditions of Psychotherapy 147
Bonnie Wolfe
13. Archaic Seifobject Transferences in the Analysis of a Case
of Male Homosexuality 164
Sanford Shapiro
14. The Self-Pity Response: A Reconsideration 178
Samuel L. Wilson
SECTION V. THEORETICAL PAPERS
15. Toward a Pure Psychology of Inner Conflict 193
Robert D. SlOlorow
16. Optimal Responsiveness and the Therapeutic Process 202
Howard A. Bacal
17. The Rediscovery of Intergenerational Continuity and
Mutuality 228
Marjorie Taggart White
18. Alterego Phenomena and the Alterego Transferences 240
Douglas W. Detrick
Index 257