The Narcissistic Patient Revisited (Progress in Self Psychology, vol. 17). Edited by Arnold Goldberg. Hillsdale, NJ:  The Analytic Press, 2001,  248 pp., $47.50.

In a 1998 paper Arnold Goldberg stated that “most psychoanalysts do not keep up with the literature of self psychology, and most have only a casual acquaintance with its vocabulary and even less familiarity with its internal struggles” (p. 240). I thought of this observation several times while reading The Narcissistic Patient Revisited, volume 17 in the Progress in Self Psychology series. Although I do not consider myself a self psychologist, I have long appreciated aspects of Kohut' thinking, particularly his focus on empathic immersion as a means of apprehending the mind of another. Thus, I looked forward to bringing myself up to date regarding the latest developments in self psychology. In this respect, the book did not disappoint. It is brimming with intriguing ideas from a variety of theoretical sources—intersubjectivity, relational theory, motivational systems theory, and infant attachment research—all of which have influenced self psychology since Kohut' day. However, the reader unfamiliar with these developments may find it a daunting task to get through this volume.