Self Psychology and Aggression — Reflections on Aversive Experience, Culture, and Building Developmental Capabilities

ABSTRACT

From the beginning, self psychology has been criticized for failing to adequately address aggression. This critique is explored beginning with Heinz Kohut’s position on aggression and then moving to discuss Joseph Lichtenberg’s proposals concerning aggression and aversiveness, the aversive motivational system. In a number of clinical vignettes, the process of developing new, adaptive developmental capacities in the aversive motivational system are described. Additionally, a focus on diversity, culture, and bias which spontaneously became activated between the analytic partners is included.

KEYWORDS:

• Self psychology & aggression
• developmental capacities
• aversive motivational system
• culture and diversity

Acknowledgment

With love and appreciation, we dedicate this article to Joe Lichtenberg. For over twenty years, Joe has been our teacher, mentor, and now, a friend. We are grateful to Joe for his generous spirit, for his steady encouragement, and for his wise guidance as we have learned from him and now continue down a path to develop our own unique analytic identities and ideas.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ The coauthors are both white, married, heterosexual, cisgender women.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marie Hellinger

Marie Hellinger, MSW, is a Founding Member and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis (ICP+P), Washington, DC. She teaches and supervises in both the ICP+P Psychoanalytic Training Program and in Contemporary Approaches to Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Training Program. She is in private practice in Washington, DC.

Elizabeth M. Carr

Elizabeth M. Carr, APRN, MSN, BC, is a Founding Member, Director Emeritus, and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in Washington, DC. She serves on the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine. She is an Associate Editor of Psychoanalytic Inquiry and an Emeritus Council Member of the International Association of Psychanalytic Self Psychology.