DOCSLIB.ORG

The Cosmic Narcissism of Heinz Kohut

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Cosmic Narcissism of Heinz Kohut Seven The Cosmic Narcissism of Heinz Kohut Heinz Kohut, the founder of self psychology, regarded his work as an out- growth of Heinz Hartmann’s formulations of ego psychology, and Hart- mann agreed. Long after his break with ego psychology, Kohut (1990b) reminisced: “I am very happy that he [Hartmann] still read the manuscript of my Analysis of the Self (1971) and gave it his approval” (p. 285). Like Hartmann’s ego psychology, Kohut’s self psychology limited the contents of the unconscious to psychic energies and allocated all ideation and mental structure to consciousness. Kohut’s concept of the cohesion of the self re- cast Thomas M. French’s characterization of ego strength in terms of the ego’s integration and its resilience. The consensus among psychoanalytic mystics that integration pertains to the total personality was shared by nei- ther Hartmann nor Kohut, for whom integration was limited to the ego or self, respectively. Kohut did not claim to be a mystic. He gave one interview where he expressed belief in God, but he was otherwise extremely reticent about personal matters. He kept secret, for example, that he was of Jewish de- scent. He was named Wolf Hersh in Yiddish at his circumcision in 1913 and was bar mitzvahed at the Mullnergasse synagogue in 1926. He fled Austria after the Nazi Anschluss in 1938. Many close friends at the University of Vienna during the 1930s were nevertheless unaware that he was Jewish, as were his colleagues at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute. Kohut told no Jewish jokes, never spoke Yiddish, and appeared baffled when Jewish cul- tural traditions were mentioned. In Chicago, he attended the Unitarian Church in Hyde Park on a regular basis, befriended its minister, and some- times spoke to the congregation (Strozier, 2003, pp. 245, 252-53). The mys- tical character of self psychology must speak for itself. Self psychology as a whole is explicitly concerned with narcissism, which it conceptualizes as a discrete developmental line that commences with primary narcissism and ends with the mature narcissism of adulthood. Self psychology may consequently be seen in its entirety as a psychology of the mystical. Kohut referred to mystical experiences only rarely. The prin- cipal discussion occurs in his 1966 article, “Forms and Transformations of Narcissism.” Near the beginning of the essay, Kohut noted the versatility of 190 EXPLORATIONS OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC MYSTICS narcissistic states: “In certain psychological states the self may expand far beyond the borders of the individual, or it may shrink and become identical with a single one of his actions or aims” (p. 429). Expansions of the self to become co-extensive with all being, or the perceptible cosmos, and its shrinkage to become nothingness, are classical varieties of mystical experi- ence. The article’s major consideration of mysticism, which speaks of the self’s “participation in a supraindividual and timeless existence,” may be quoted in full. More difficult still, however, than the acknowledgment of the impermanence of object cathexes is the unqualified intellectual and emotional acceptance of the fact that we ourselves are im- permanent, that the self which is cathected with narcissistic libido is finite in time. I believe that this rare feat rests, not simply on a victory of autonomous reason and supreme objectivity over the claims of narcissism, but on the creation of a higher form of nar- cissism. The great who have achieved the outlook on life to which the Romans referred as living sub specie aeternitatis do not display resignation and hopelessness but a quiet pride which is of- ten coupled with mild disdain of the rabble which, without being able to delight in the variety of experiences life has to offer, is yet afraid of death and trembles at its approach.... Only through an acceptance of death, Goethe says here, can man reap all that is in life....I have little doubt that those who are able to achieve this ultimate attitude toward life do so on the strength of a new, expanded, transformed narcissism: a cosmic narcissism which has transcended the bounds of the individual. Just as the child’s primary empathy with the mother is the precursor of the adult’s ability to be empathic, so his primary identity with her must be considered the precursor of an expan- sion of the self, late in life, when the finiteness of individual exis- tence is acknowledged. The original psychological universe, i.e., the primordial experience of the mother, is “remembered” by many people in the form of the occasionally occurring vague re- verberations known by the term “oceanic feeling” (Freud, 1930, pp. 64-73). The achievement--as the certainty of eventual death is fully realized--of a shift of the narcissistic cathexes from the self to a concept of participation in a supraindividual and timeless exis- tence must also be regarded as genetically predetermined by the child’s primary identity with the mother. In contrast to the oce- anic feeling, however, which is experienced passively (and usually .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • About Psychoanalysis
    ABOUT PSYCHOANALYSIS What is psychoanalysis? What is psychoanalytic treatment for? Freud’s major discoveries and innovations • The Unconscious • Early childhood experiences • Psychosexual development • The Oedipus complex • Repression • Dreams are wish-fulfilments • Transference • Free association • The Ego, the Id and the Super-Ego Major discoveries and additions to psychoanalytic theory since Freud: the different strands and schools within psychoanalysis today • Classical and contemporary Freudians • Sándor Ferenczi • Ego-Psychology • Classical and contemporary Kleinians • The Bionian branch of the Kleinian School • Winnicott’s branch of the Object-Relations Theory • French psychoanalysis • Self-Psychology • Relational Psychoanalysis The core psychoanalytic method and setting • Method • Setting Various Psychoanalytic Treatment Methods (adult, children, groups, etc) • Psychoanalysis • Psychoanalytic or psychodynamic psychotherapy • Children and adolescents • Psychoanalytic psychodrama • Psychoanalytic Couples- and Family-Psychotherapy • Psychoanalytic Groups Psychoanalytic training Applied psychoanalysis The IPA, its organisation and ethical guidelines Where to encounter psychoanalysis? What is psychoanalysis? Psychoanalysis is both a theory of the human mind and a therapeutic practice. It was founded by Sigmund Freud between 1885 and 1939 and continues to be developed by psychoanalysts all over the world. Psychoanalysis has four major areas of application: 1) as a theory of how the mind works 2) as a treatment method for psychic problems 3) as a method of research, and 4) as a way of viewing cultural and social phenomena like literature, art, movies, performances, politics and groups. What is psychoanalytic treatment for? Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy are for those who feel caught in recurrent psychic problems that impede their potential to experience happiness with their partners, families, and friends as well as success and fulfilment in their work and the normal tasks of everyday life.
    [Show full text]
  • Migratory Psychoanalysis Michael P
    Migratory psychoanalysis MICHAEL P. STEINBERG Brown University In September 2004 I participated in a conference in La plata, Argentina, on the topic of “the State and the politics of Memory: Archives, Museums, and Education.”1 the conference was convened by the comisión provincial por la Memoria, an authority commissioned in 2000 by the provincial government of Buenos Aires (whose capital is La plata) with the task of developing a public and comparative discourse of Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung, or coming to terms with the past. the Argentine past in question is the military regime that held power between 1976 and 1983, unleashing a campaign of state terrorism responsible for the murder of 30,000 citizens, with a severe overrepresentation, in increasing order, of youth, secondary school and university students, and Jews. the city of La plata boasts an important university; as a result, the violence there was especially severe. the comisión por la Memoria is housed in a former police headquarters known to the citizens of La plata as a site of torture and other hor- rors. Its task includes the preservation and dissemination of the archive of the state security forces (dIpBA), containing 3,800,000 files as well as other materials, including, for example, 160 recordings of bugged telephone conversations.2 to my surprise and, I must confess, to my relief, the large public audience proved quite interested in the topic of my own contribution: discourses and sites of public memory and history in Berlin. As it turns out, a delegation from the comisión por la Memoria was about to travel to Berlin to consult with analogous scholars and archivists there, specifically with the archivists of the Stasi files.
    [Show full text]
  • Heinz Hartmann and Dora Hartmann Papers
    Heinz Hartmann and Dora Hartmann Papers A Finding Aid to the Papers in the Sigmund Freud Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 2002 Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms010213 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm83061523 Prepared by David Mathisen Revised and expanded by Margaret McAleer and Brian McGuire Collection Summary Title: Heinz Hartmann and Dora Hartmann Papers Span Dates: 1928-1974 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1944-1974) ID No.: MSS61523 Creator: Hartmann, Heinz, 1894-1970 Creator: Hartmann, Dora, 1902-1974 Extent: 2,500 items ; 10 containers ; 4 linear feet Language: Collection material in English, German, French, and shorthand Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Psychoanalysts. Correspondence, memoranda, writings, subject file, and other papers relating primarily to the Hartmanns’ work with the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and to Heinz Hartmann’s writing and editorial projects. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. People Bonaparte, Marie, Princess, 1882-1962--Correspondence. Fenichel, Otto--Correspondence. Freud, Anna, 1895-1982--Correspondence. Hartmann, Dora, 1902-1974. Heinz Hartmann and Dora Hartmann papers. 1928-1974. Hartmann, Heinz, 1894-1970, ed. Psychoanalytic study of the child. Hartmann, Heinz, 1894-1970. Kris, Ernst, 1900-1957--Correspondence. Kubie, Lawrence S. (Lawrence Schlesinger), 1896-1973--Correspondence.
    [Show full text]
  • Conceptualizing Our Interpersonal Impressions
    Conceptualizing our Interpersonal Impressions Conceptualizing our Interpersonal Impressions Mental Representations and Internal Objects By Gillian Steggles Conceptualizing our Interpersonal Impressions: Mental Representations and Internal Objects By Gillian Steggles This book first published 2015 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2015 by Gillian Steggles All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-7046-3 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-7046-7 Dedicated, belatedly, to Melanie Klein and Anna Freud TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures.............................................................................................. x List of Tables .............................................................................................. xi Foreword ................................................................................................... xii Bob Hinshelwood Preface ....................................................................................................... xv Acknowledgements ................................................................................. xvii Introduction ................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Happiness Studies and Wellbeing: a Lacanian Critique of Contemporary Conceptualisations of the Cure
    Happiness Studies and Wellbeing: A Lacanian Critique of Contemporary Conceptualisations of the Cure By Colin Wright Abstract Criticising the discourse of happiness and wellbeing from a psychoanalytic per- spective, this article is in five parts. The first offers a brief philosophical genealo- gy of happiness, charting its diverse meanings from ancient Greece, through Me- dieval Scholasticism and on to bourgeois liberalism, utilitarianism and neoliberal- ism. The second contextualizes contemporary happiness in the wider milieu of self-help culture and positive psychology. The third explores the growing influ- ence but also methodological weaknesses of the field of Happiness Studies. The fourth then focuses specifically on the notion of wellbeing and the impact it has had on changing definitions of health itself, particularly mental health. The fifth and final section then turns to psychoanalysis, its Lacanian orientation especially, to explore the critical resources it offers to counter today’s dominant therapeutic cultures. It also emphasises psychoanalytic clinical practice as itself an ethico- political challenge to the injunction to be happy that lies at the heart of consumer culture. Keywords: Happiness studies, wellbeing, self-help, positive psychology, biopoli- tics psychoanalysis, Jacques Lacan Wright, Colin: “Happiness Studies and Wellbeing”, Culture Unbound, Volume 6, 2014: 791–813. Hosted by Linköping University Electronic Press: http://www.cultureunbound.ep.liu.se Introduction This article will draw on Lacanian psychoanalysis
    [Show full text]
  • The Ego and the Mechanisms of Adaptation*
    Parin 1988c The Ego and the Mechanisms of Adaptation. In Boyer, Bryce & Simon A. Grolnik (Eds.): The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, Vol. 12. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 97-130. 97 Paul Parin The Ego and the Mechanisms of Adaptation* Translated by Eva J. Meyer The title of this paper is to remind us of two works that are of undisputed importance to the development of psychoana1ysis: Anna Freud's The Ego and the Mechanism of Defense (1936) and Heinz Hartmann's Ego Psychology and the Problems of Adaptation (1939). I hasten to add that neither the scope of this article nor the relevance of our consideration warrants any comparison with the two cited works. The relationship to Anna Freud's book is by analogy: I describe mechanisms, and call them mechanisms of adaptation, that are more or less firmly established in the ego of an adult and always run the same course unconsciously, just as Anna Freud describes the defense mechanisms. While the latter, however, are established in the ego to defend against undesired or disturbing drives, wishes and affects, the adaptation mechanisms I am talking about are meant to cope with active influences of the social environment. You will also find some analogies to Anna Freud's approaches in my arguments, and especially to her objectives. We have learned to understand the various defense organizations of the ego as an idiosyncratic form, even as the most important dynamically effective substratum of the ego; similarly the mechanisms of adaptation also seem to group themselves as an organization, which leads to idiosyncratic characteristics of social behavior, something like culture-specific ego variants.
    [Show full text]
  • Heinz Kohut and the Psychology of the Self Ebook
    HEINZ KOHUT AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SELF PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Allen M. Siegel | 240 pages | 07 Nov 1996 | Taylor & Francis Ltd | 9780415086387 | English | London, United Kingdom Heinz Kohut and the Psychology of the Self PDF Book Kohut was at 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. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here During this time Kohut became acquainted with everyone who mattered in psychoanalysis worldwide. Brown, Children of the Self-Absorbed p. Kohut and later self psychologists saw how these needs — Mirroring, Idealizing, and Alter Ego — emerge in analysis and become focused on the analyst. About Welcome to the Institute What is Psychoanalysis? The reason for this remains unclear, but Kohut was not even allowed to begin a didactic analysis. Nevertheless, Winnicott did not undervalue the role of the false self in the human personality, regarding it in fact as a necessary form of defensive organization — a kind of caretaker, a survival suit behind the protection of which the true self was able to continue to exist. Modan Publishing House. The approaching death forced Kohut to think with his own brains. It is a treatise on narcissistic personality disorders , and on their psychoanalytic treatment. Social comparison is regarded as the way in which we compare ourselves to other people around us. Kohut relied heavily on empathy as a method of observation. Goldberg and P. Craig Malkin, a lecturer in psychology at Harvard Medical School , wrote about healthy narcissism in his book 'Rethinking Narcissism'.
    [Show full text]
  • An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis
    An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis Jacques Lacan is arguably the most original and influential psychoanalytic thinker since Freud. His ideas have revolutionised the clinical practice of psychoanalysis and continue to have a major impact in fields as diverse as film studies, literary criticism, feminist theory and philosophy. Lacan’s writings are notorious for their complexity and idiosyncratic style and An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis will be invaluable for reading in every discipline where his influence is felt. Detailed definitions are provided for over two hundred Lacanian terms. Attention is given both to Lacan’s use of common psychoanalytic terms and how his own terminology developed through the various stages of his teaching. Taking full account of the clinical basis of Lacan’s work, the dictionary details the historical and institutional background to Lacanian ideas. Each major concept is traced back to its origins in the work of Freud, Saussure, Hegel and others. An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis provides a unique source of reference for psychoanalysts in training and in practice. Placing Lacan’s ideas in their clinical context, the dictionary is also an ideal companion for readers in other disciplines. Dylan Evans trained as a Lacanian psychoanalyst in Buenos Aires, London and Paris. He is currently working on a PhD at the State University of New York at Buffalo. An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis Dylan Evans London and New York First published 1996 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1996 Dylan Evans All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond Symptom Accumulation: a Lacanian Clinical Approach to Obsession - a Case Study and Theoretical Exposition Julie L
    Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 2014 Beyond Symptom Accumulation: A Lacanian Clinical Approach to Obsession - A Case Study and Theoretical Exposition Julie L. Futrell Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Futrell, J. (2014). Beyond Symptom Accumulation: A Lacanian Clinical Approach to Obsession - A Case Study and Theoretical Exposition (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/562 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BEYOND SYMPTOM ACCUMULATION: A LACANIAN CLINICAL APPROACH TO OBSESSION A CASE STUDY AND THEORETICAL EXPOSITION A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Julie L. Futrell, M.A., M.Ed. August 2014 Copyright by Julie L. Futrell 2014 iv BEYOND SYMPTOM ACCUMULATION: A LACANIAN CLINICAL APPROACH TO OBSESSION A CASE STUDY AND THEORETICAL EXPOSITION By Julie L. Futrell Approved May 3, 2013 ________________________________ ________________________________ Bruce Fink, Ph.D. Suzanne Barnard, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Associate Professor of Psychology (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ________________________________ Colleen Carney, Ph.D. Adjunct Faculty (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ James Swindal, Ph.D. Leswin Laubscher, Ph.D. Dean, McAnulty College and Graduate Chair, Department of Psychology School of Liberal Arts Associate Professor of Psychology Professor of Philosophy iii ABSTRACT BEYOND SYMPTOM ACCUMULATION: A LACANIAN CLINICAL APPROACH TO OBSESSION A CASE STUDY AND THEORETICAL EXPOSITION By Julie L.
    [Show full text]
  • Hanns Sachs Library and Archives Newsletter
    Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute Hanns Sachs Library and Archives Newsletter VOLUME 14, NUMBER 1 FALL, 2014 DIRECTOR OF From the Director Dan Jacobs, MD LIBRARY Dan Jacobs, MD On the Move been updated to include real treasures. Between now and November 17, we are offering all hardcovers for just $2, all LIBRARIAN/ Our library, like the rest of BPSI is on ARCHIVIST the move. That means transporting 8,000 paperbacks – for free. If you are out of Olga Umansky, MLS volumes, bound archives of 20 journals, town, we can deliver within the US and scores of photographs, dozens of boxes will only ask you to cover the most cost- of archival material to our new home. efficient shipping. LIBRARY ASSISTANT None of this can be done without the Tyler Wimberly careful planning of Carole Nathan and her consultants as well as the hands-on Changes in the Library LIBRARY help of our librarian Olga Umansky and COMMITTEE her assistant Tyler Wimberly. But it will We have two new updated computers Ellen Goldberg, PhD be well worth the effort. Our library will for use in the library. We also offer free occupy a beautiful space. It will be a online journal access for those in the Malkah Notman, MD tranquil place for reading or writing, for library. Articles can be printed out from Rita Teusch, PhD quiet reflection, and for shaping what we the library’s or from your own laptops. Shari Thurer, ScD think through learning the thoughts of Due to budget constraints we have Marcia Smith-Hutton, others.
    [Show full text]
  • Psychodynamic Approaches to Violence
    BJPsych Advances (2018), vol. 24, 83–92 doi: 10.1192/bja.2017.23 Psychodynamic approaches to ARTICLE violence† Jessica Yakeley violent crime are themselves at increased risk of Jessica Yakeley is a consultant SUMMARY psychiatrist in forensic psychother- developing physical and mental ill health. The assessment and management of violent apy, Director of the Portman Clinic, behaviour in mentally disordered patients are no Personality disorder, most commonly antisocial per- and Director of Medical Education at longer the sole domain of forensic psychiatrists, sonality disorder (ASPD), is overrepresented in the Tavistock and Portman National offending populations (Alwin 2006), particularly Health Service Foundation Trust, but are increasingly part of the day-to-day work London. She is also Editor of of all psychiatrists and mental health professionals. among individuals with convictions for violent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and a Violence risk assessment has become a huge offences (McMurran 2009). ASPD is associated Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical industry, and although the importance of dynamic, with high levels of comorbid psychiatric illness, sub- Society. as well as actuarial, risk factors is now recognised, stance misuse, poor physical health and early death Correspondence Dr Jessica Yakeley, Portman Clinic, 8 Fitzjohns a more systematic approach exploring the psycho- from suicide or reckless behaviour (Martin 1985; dynamics in the aetiology, assessment and treat- Avenue, London NW3 5NA, UK. Black 1996; Odgers 2007; Piquero 2011). Violent Email: [email protected] ment of violent behaviour is often lacking. In this acts may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder in article I revisit some of the key psychodynamic perpetrators as well as victims (Minne 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • Heinz Hartmann. Essays on Ego Psychology. New York: International Universities Press,.'1964
    Heinz Hartmann. Essays on Ego Psychology. New York: International Universities Press,.'1964-. ' This book consists of a number of papers bearing on psychoanalytic theory, in -particular on psychoanalytic ego psychology, published by Hartmann between 1939. In order to see the developing formulations Hartmann made in ego psycho- on or publication of J- logy, it would perhaps be best to review the papers in chronological order; however, I intend to first summarize those papers which appear to have the more important bearing on our interest in ego psychology at the moment. In his intro duction to these papers, the author comments xi on the fact that it was^Freud's work on the ego in the 1920s and the 1930s that opened the door to the present emphasis on the importance of the ego in the total personality. It is via the personal use only. Citati study of the ego and its functions that psychoanalysis will reach its aim of rums. Nutzung nur für persönliche Zwecke. becoming a general psychology. For a long time, the study of drives and their development was the core of psychoanalytic psychology, and to it was later added tten permission of the copyright holder. the study of the defensive functions of the ego. "A next step pointed to extending the analytic approach to the manifold activities of the ego which can be subsumed under the concept of the 'conflict-free sphere.' However, the ego functions so described can under circumstances become secondarily involved in conflicts of various kinds. On the other hand, they often do exert an influence on the condi tions and outcomes of conflicts.
    [Show full text]