Heinz Kohut

Heinz Kohut (1913–1981) was an Austrian-American psychoanalyst who founded self psychology, emphasizing empathy and selfobject relationships in personality development.

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Self psychology: A psychoanalytic theory that explains personality and psychopathology through the development and maintenance of the self. Kohut developed this theory as an alternative to drive-centered accounts of personality.
Mirroring: A response that reflects and affirms another person’s feelings, qualities, or accomplishments. Kohut described mirroring as a selfobject function that supports a child’s ambitions and self-esteem.
Sigmund Freud: The founder of psychoanalysis, who developed theories of unconscious conflict, sexuality, and personality. Kohut began within Freudian psychoanalysis and later challenged its drive-centered account of narcissism.
Drive theory: A psychoanalytic model that explains behavior through motivational drives and their conflicts. Kohut argued that drive theory could not adequately explain self-esteem and narcissistic needs.
Selfobject: A person or relationship experienced as serving functions essential to maintaining another person’s sense of self. Kohut used this concept to explain how relationships support the developing self.
Idealization: The attribution of exceptional qualities to another person or ideal, often accompanied by a wish for closeness. Kohut saw idealization of caregivers as a route to calm and internal strength.
Ernest Wolf: An American psychoanalyst who helped develop and teach self psychology after Kohut. Wolf collaborated with Kohut and helped systematize self psychology.
Object relations theory: A psychoanalytic tradition that explains personality through internalized relationships with significant others. Kohut’s focus on self-cohesion differs from object relations accounts centered on internal object relationships.
Empathy: The capacity to understand another person’s experience by imaginatively entering their perspective. Kohut treated empathic understanding as both a clinical method and a developmental need.
Twinship: A sense of likeness and belonging formed through the experience of being similar to another person. Kohut identified twinship as a selfobject need alongside mirroring and idealization.