Empathic Attunement: The Technique of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology

by David Mac Isaac

Overview

Empathic Attunement captures the essence of Kohut's contributions to self psychology and the mental health field. Straightforward, accurate, and practical, the authors introduce student and experienced clinician alike to the synthesis of Kohut's major concepts and their clinical applications. The authors highlight Kohut's emphasis on the empathic mode of data gathering from within the patient's experiences. Kohut considers empathy—the capacity to think and feel oneself into the inner life of another person—to be the major tool of therapy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780876688571
Publisher:	Aronson, Jason Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/1989
Pages:	322
Product dimensions:	7.06(w) x 8.54(h) x 1.22(d)

About the Author

Crayton E. Rowe, Jr. is a member and training analyst for The New York Freudian Society and the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. He is a founding member of the New York Institute for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology. Dr. Rowe is the founder and past chair of the National Membership Committee on Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work and member of the International Psychoanalytical Association. Dr. Rowe is a clinical supervisor at the University Settlement Consultation Center and maintains a private practice in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in New York City. David S. Mac Isaac is a section one member of the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association. He is a board member of the Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy of New Jersey and a founding member of the New York Institute for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology. He maintains a private practice in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in Englewood, New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
Chapter I: Understanding from the Vantage Point of the Patient's Experience
Chapter 2 Kohut the Man
Chapter 3 Empathy? Its Definition and Functions
Chapter 4 The Selfobject Concept and Selfobject Transference
Chapter 5 Stages in the Development of the Self
Chapter 6
Chapter II: Treatment in Self Psychology
Chapter 7 Transmuting Internalization
Chapter 8 Mental Health and Illness
Chapter 9 The Place of Drives in Self Psychology
Chapter 10 Defense and Resistance
Chapter 11 Dreams
Chapter 12 The Curative Process
Chapter 13
Chapter III: Clinical Applications of Self Psychology
Chapter 14 Kohut's Two Analyses of Mr. Z.
Chapter 15 Treatment of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder: The Case of Ms. O.
Chapter 16 Expanding Attunement to the Patient's Shifting Experience: The Case of Ms. O.
Chapter 17 Development of the Therapeutic Process: The Case of Ms. O.
Chapter 18 More Specific Understanding: The Case of Ms. O.
Chapter 19 Treatment of a Borderline Personality Disorder: The Case of Mr. V.
Chapter 20 Development of the Therapeutic Process: The Case of Mr. V.
Chapter 21 More Specific Understanding: The Case of Mr. V.
Chapter 22 The Empathic-Introspective Approach

What People are Saying About This

Paul Ornstein

The authors take beginners by the hand and walk them through the details of the contributions of Heinz Kohut in a simple, direct, masterly, and easy-to-follow fashion. They have digested Kohut's work, made it their own, and through their clinical examples, sensitively bring their readers step by step inside their clinical experiences. They share this in an open, sound, and pedagogically appealing fashion. They are as empathic with their readers as they are with their patients—a most felicitous combination...

Editorial Reviews

Empathic Attunement carefully leads the reader from the earliest of Kohut's observations through the newly developing theory and into detailed case reports. . . . At the same time, the thoughts of the treating clinician provide a running commentarythat is invaluable in demonstrating the constant and fertile interplay between theory and practice, or, in Kohutian terms, between understanding and explaining. In an admirably self-revealing manner that does not hide countertransferences, the authors invite the reader to learn by empathic participation. This is a book that will appeal to beginners and to experienced practitioners alike. It can be recommended to all...

Ernst Wolf

The authors take beginners by the hand and walk them through the details of the contributions of Heinz Kohut in a simple, direct, masterly, and easy-to-follow fashion. They have digested Kohut's work, made it their own, and through their clinical examples, sensitively bring their readers step by step inside their clinical experiences. They share this in an open, sound, and pedagogically appealing fashion. They are as empathic with their readers as they are with their patients—a most felicitous combination...

Dr. Paul Ornstein