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Margaret Black presents an eloquent case history to attest to the explanatory power and therapeutic value of Kohut's self psychology. Then she raises a subtle and highly important question: once the patient's self-cohesion is improved can application of this theory constitute a blind spot that actually interferes with individuation and a necessary process of psychological separation? Black answers this question in the affirmative, advancing an argument based on an interpretation of Kohut's theory of technique which is different from my own. Before clarifying the area of my disagreement with her I shall summarize her views.
Black reads Kohut to mean that development and maintenance of the selfobject tranferences through which patients like Christine gain increasing cohesion require the analyst to adopt a mirroring technique and avoid