Heinz Kohut and the Psychology of the Self

Book Details
- Publisher : Routledge
- Published : 2026
- Cover : Paperback
- Pages : 224
- Category :
Forthcoming - Category 2 :
Psychoanalysis - Catalogue No : 98423
- ISBN 13 : 9781041134640
- ISBN 10 : 1041134649
Reviews and Endorsements
Allen Siegel’s 1996 classic, Heinz Kohut and the Psychology of the Self, has been an influential reference and teaching tool for decades. Based on the author’s extensive clinical experience it explicates the at-times turgid writings of Kohut into clear understandable terms. In this second edition Siegel is joined by Paige LaCava, also therapist and teacher in touch with today’s learners. It enriches the original with a new Preface and Introduction, and an interesting essay On Listening drawn from their Kohut-derived listening stance. An Afterward describes both their individual interests in Kohut and their collaborative work on this book.
Jonathan F. Borus, M.D., Stanley Cobb Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry ,Harvard Medical School
Allen Siegel and Paige LaCava trace the revolutionary journey of Heinz Kohut who dared to redefine the nature of mental life through the nuanced language of empathy and the experience of the self. Using vivid clinical vignettes and philosophical insight the book examines what it means to be mentally ill—and what it means to be whole. It rethinks the foundations of psychological data, offering a compelling argument that empathy is not merely a tool but the very method through which the mind reveals itself.
David Solomon MD
In the first edition of Heinz Kohut and the Psychology of the Self, Siegel masterfully describes how Freud’s theories laid groundwork for what became self psychology. In this 2nd edition, Siegel is joined by Paige LaCava in a creative expansion. They go beyond the mapping of self psychology’s origins and features, adding current cultural perspectives. The reader feels invited into the world of these clinicians who share their experience-near process. Long gone is the distant “objective “ therapist and the style of reporter-like writing.
Read this engaging book to explore how Kohut’s theory still informs our ever-changing psychodynamic world.
Constance Goldberg MS, Faculty Emerita, The Institute for Clinical Social Work, Chicago