Heinz Kohut

Heinz Kohut (May 3, 1913 – October 8, 1981) was a pioneer in the fields of psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

Born in Vienna, from 1939 Kohut lived in Chicago, where he established the school of  Self Psychology as a branch of psychoanalysis.

Trained in classical Freudian psychology technique, he came to believe that certain essential aspects of human emotional suffering were inadequately accounted for in Freud's approach. Where Freud empahasized guilt (the pain of failing to live up to one's internal standards) in the etiology of emotional disorders, Kohut saw shame (the pain evoked by others' negative judgements) as more central. He focused on "self states" such as the one's sense of worth and well-being - thus the name Self Psychology for his approach.

One of Kohut's contributions is the idea that the need for positive relationships does not end at childhood, but continues throughout all stages of a person's life. These relationship have at least one of two qualities: they provide empathy, giving the person the feeling that they are understood, and/or they are idealizable, giving the person something bigger than themslves to aspire to. The person who can provide such a relationship is internalized as a "Selfobject."

Heinz Kohut היינץ קוהוט ハインツ・コフート

External link to brief Biography by Charles B. Strozier: http://www.psychologyoftheself.com/kohut/strozier1.htm