Self Psychology Flashcards

A psychoanalytic theory developed by Heinz Kohut emphasizing the development of the self through empathic relationships and mirroring.

Self Psychology emphasizes empathy over interpretation, selfobject needs over drives, and the development of the self over instinctual conflicts.

A person or function that supports the cohesion, stability, or vitality of the self; experienced as part of the self rather than as a separate individual.

The primary tool of understanding in Self Psychology; accurate emotional attunement to another’s inner experience.

The need to be validated, admired, and recognized by important others to build self-esteem.

The need to merge with or look up to strong, calm, admirable figures to gain stability and strength.

The need to feel likeness or belonging with others who are similar, creating a sense of connectedness and normalcy.

The gradual process by which selfobject functions are internalized, leading to self-soothing and mature self-regulation.

A sense of wholeness, continuity, and stability within one’s identity.

A breakdown of the self’s cohesion, often due to empathic failures or loss of key selfobjects.

The central, enduring core of the self that develops from consistent empathic responses in early life.

An early developmental structure expressing the child’s need for admiration and a sense of greatness.

An early image of the all-powerful, calm caregiver that the child idealizes for security and direction.

The recreation in therapy of early selfobject needs through mirroring, idealizing, or twinship dynamics with the therapist.

The experience of small, manageable empathic failures that foster growth and internalization of selfobject functions.

A disruption in attunement that, if too severe, leads to fragmentation rather than growth.