Talk:Heinz Kohut

Oh come on
His influence has been compared to that of Sigmund Freud. And found lacking. Removing until someone can demonstrate that their influence is in the same league, which I cannot imagine. -- Cleduc 22:20, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Austrian or German?
I am a bit shocked to see that the English Wikipedia lists Kohut as German, while German Wikipedia lists Kohut as Austrian. Who is right? Andries 03:01, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Expansion is needed!
This seems like an excellent place to start if anyone wants to tackle a major improvement on this article. Ziggurat 22:11, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Rationale behind some changes
I have a doctorate in psychology and I use a lot of dynamic theory in practice, so I figured I qualified as an expert. :-)

I rewrote almost everything and removed most of the text that focused on self psychology as a theory, since there is a separate entry in Wiki for that, and this one is supposed to be on the theorist, not the theory. I looked over the entry on the theory, and that needs work, too, but that's for another evening.

I referenced my sources.

Austrian or German? He was from Vienna, which is the capital of Austria. He was Jewish, and he had to get out before the Nazis put him in a camp, just like Freud!

He was important to dynamic theory, and some would probably argue that he is as important as Freud to the modern incarnations of said theory, particularly since most people use either self psych or object relations today. Carl Rogers was a pioneer for caring about his clients and treating them with empathy, which is core to all psychological practice today, so Kohut introducing that concept into the stodgy old, already developed analytic/dynamic world was pretty groundbreaking. I get the impression from what I've read that he had great charisma and that helped him. (So did Freud, I believe.)

Katsesama 08:43, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

== Inconsistency in text: == "Kohut expanded on his theory during the 1970s and 1980s" "He fell into a coma on the evening of October 7, 1981, and died of cancer on the morning of October 8."

Also: no transition to "In the final week of his life, knowing that his time was at an end..."

and no DOB / DOD at the top.

The preceding entry is unsigned
How can the reader give it any credence? Katsesama, I respect your entry as the best contribution to the article. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 1976, with emphasis in Developmental, Social, and Abnormal areas. I worked on locked wards with adolescents and children from 1977-1981. I have been licensed as a registered nurse since 1981, practicing in Emergency until my retirement in 2001. Although I worked with Clinical Social Workers and Emergency Psychiatrists, it was less than 5% of my practice. I have several friends who are Retired or working Clinical Social Workers, as is my current therapist. I see her every two weeks, and my internist four times a year.

My friend Bruce obtained a Master's Degree in Humanistic Psychology about ten years ago, obtained a state license for childhood counselling, but never had a client before he went to Guatemala to "save the world." This evening I had coffee with a friend who attended a three-day conference in "Constellation Healing", which he described as personal psychology, applied to the trauma that is ubiquitous in human development.

I find parallels, and some potential for scientific evolution from Breuer, Freud and Kohut. All three were Vienna Jews whose lives were shaped by Nazi persecution. Although Wikipaedia gives no cause of death for Breuer, Freud and Kohut both died of cancer.--W8IMP 04:57, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 16:27, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Kohut and NPD
He both treated and wrote about those with NPD. See this - Kohut's book The Analysis of the Self: A Systematic Analysis of the Treatment of the Narcissistic Personality Disorders [4] "had a significant impact on the field.." Spotted Owl (talk) 18:31, 5 February 2008 (UTC)