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Self psychology was started by Heinz Kohut at the Chicago University. Self psychology is based on psychoanalysis but its perspective of the relationship between the therapist and the patient is different from that held by the psychoanalysis theory. This is because, in psychoanalysis, the therapist should endure that there is no emotional contact between him/her and the patient to ensure objectivity in the patient-information analysis.
On the contrary, self psychology advocates for use of empathy in a bid to make the patient have trust in the therapist. This is geared towards making the patient open up more and more and make the therapist understand his/her problems better. Self psychology addresses a number of ideas (Muhlbacher, 2004, p. 27). In this paper, we discuss the challenges a psychoanalyst may face in practice in relation to primary and secondary narcissism and idealized parental imago.
Primary and secondary narcissism develops due to children blaming others, especially their parents, for not caring for them and loving them (Laplanche, 1988, p. 336).
Primary narcissism could be viewed as a defense mechanism developed by a child after a disappointment while secondary narcissism develops in adults due to early rejection (Laplanche, 1988, p. 337). Complete narcissism starts immediately after a child is born and continues until the child reached the age of six years. When children develop narcissism, they grow to be obsessed with themselves, have no empathy and always disregard others and their needs.
It is this characteristic of narcissism that makes it a challenge for psychoanalysts. Since the patient lacks empathy, disregards the needs of others and attaches themselves unrealistic worth, it is very difficult for the psychoanalyst to apply empathy in them (Laplanche, 1988, p. 338). This is because, they do not care about the needs of the psychoanalyst and they will therefore fail to develop a sense of trust.
Another major challenge is the fact that most narcissism cases are developed by people who met disappointments as children at a very tender age. This implies that the narcissistic character is, arguably, a part of them and therefore making them change their view of life could be problematic. Narcissistic patients may decide to stick to themselves even after lengthy therapies (Laplanche, 1988, p. 338).
The second self psychology idea we address is idealized parental imago. It makes the patient seek union with another omniscient being considered to be perfect. The wish to unify with the perfect being leads to either wholeness or fracture depending on whether the wish is satisfied (Siegel, 1996, p. 66). In practice, it may prove to be challenging to handle a patient with idealized parental imago. This is because they are mostly lacking in self esteem and it takes a lot of therapy to make them realize their worth as human beings (Siegel, 1996, p. 67).
They attach their worth to the aforementioned being. If they have already achieved the stated union, it will be difficult to make them believe that they are better on their own and that the union makes the dependant. In a nutshell the therapy proves to be challenging since it involves changing what the patient believes in (Siegel, 1996, p. 69).
Reference List
Laplanche, J. (1988). The language of psycho-analysis. New York. Barnes & Noble.
Muhlbacher, J. (2004). Role models in leadership and self psychology according to Kohut. Web.
Siegel, M. (1996). Heinz Kohut and the psychology of self. California. Bell & Bain.
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