Self-Psychology: Empathy and Process

ABSTRACT

This brief article discusses the value of self-psychology in working with patients seeking psychotherapy. The emphasis on empathic understanding, injury, and repair are fundamental to the therapeutic process. This brief response highlights the understanding of and meaning of the therapist’s interventions in helping or hindering members’ ability to benefit from their treatment.

Self-psychology, developed from the primary contributions of Heinz Kohut (1984), is a theoretical system that may be therapeutically effective with a broad range of individuals, and which could include severe personality disorders (Stone & Gustafson, 1982) and also with some psychotic illnesses (Stone, 2003). A self-psychology orientation is also compatible with treating patients from a wide breadth of different cultures, because the issues of being understood and responded to an in empathic fashion naturally lend themselves to being inclusive.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Walter N. Stone

Walter N. Stone is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio.