Therapy Toronto Psychotherapy Definitions

Therapist Match:

Stephen van Beek (the Annex)

Self-Psychology

Self-Psychology arose from the work of Heinz Kohut, for many years a traditional psychoanalyst.

Kohut realized that the appropriate response to his clients required him to recognize that the modern age posed challenges absent in Freud's time.

The challenge of Self in our postmodern era had not been anticipated by Freud whose many contributions laid the necessary groundwork for psychotherapy.

The notion of the Self as a psychological construct also owes something to Jung, an entity beyond the process of individuation within the social order.

Issues of existence, self-identity, life meaning and the individual's unique perspective on, and response to, his or her very particular situation echo some of the insights developed by Daseinsanalysis, with which self-psychology may be fruitfully compared.

Among the more prominent contributors have been Frank Lachman, George Atwood, Robert Stolorow and more recently Donna Orange. (SvB)

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